Six Bharatiya Janata Party activists were arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police in Srinagar on Saturday, four days ahead of the proposed flag hoisting by the party in city centre Lal Chowk.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday flayed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's remark that it wanted to incite violence in the state by hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk, saying its aim was to promote national sovereignty and it did not need a certificate from the leader. "Despite committing a blunder-a-day and making arrogant statements, Omar Abdullah continues to head a government supported by the Congressm" said BJP.
The 20-hour gunfight between militants and security forces came to an end on Thursday when the forces gunned down the two militants holed up in a hotel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
The 20-hour gunfight between militants and security forces came to an end on Thursday when the forces gunned down the two militants holed up in a hotel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.Earlier, the forces gained control over the ground and first floor of the hotel and continued the fierce gunfight with the holed up militants.A CRPF trooper as well as a civilian, who was being evacuated from the hotel, was injured during the encounter.
One policeman was killed and six civilians were injured when a group of heavily armed fidayeen (suicide bombers) attacked a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force camp located in Lal Chowk, at the heart of Srinagar, on Wednesday afternoon.A senior police official said the militants hurled grenades and opened indiscriminate fire at the paramilitary CRPF troops on Wednesday afternoon and tried to force their entry inside the camp. However, the CRPF guards retaliated.
Three militants and a policeman were killed in a fierce gun-fight in the Qamarwari locality of Srinagar on Monday afternoon.Motorcycle borne militants opened indiscriminate fire at a naakabandi, after being intercepted on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad highway, just six kms from the city centre Lal Chowk on Monday afternoon, said a police officer."A policeman died on the spot while the other cops manning the naaka returned the fire, killing all three militants," he said.
Police had to fire dozens of tear smoke shells in an attempt to disperse the stone-pelting students from S P College and the adjoining Women's College on M A Road, officials said.
Malik was reportedly leading a campaign to boycott assembly elections scheduled to be held in Jammu and Kashmir next month, for which he was taken into preventive custody.
Monday's shooting in Lal Chowk triggered panic, sending tourists and shopkeepers in a tizzy with everyone running for cover in the adjoining by-lanes.
Curfew continued in parts of Srinagar on Saturday in view of the separatists' call for occupying Lal Chowk and Airport Road here while curfew-like restrictions remained in force in rest of Kashmir even as normal life remained paralysed for the 57th day.
The home minister's visit comes days after he praised state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his firm handling of the situation in the run up to the Republic Day
Terming as "illegal" the Jammu and Kashmir government's action of not allowing Bharatiya Janata Party activists to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Monday said his party was examining availability of legal options.
In a goodwill gesture, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitely and invited party members, who were arrested for trying to enter the state, to attend the Republic Day function either in Jammu or in Srinagar.
Terrorists on Wednesday struck at the heart of Srinagar killing a policeman and injuring seven others after taking hostage number of people in a run-down hotel breaking almost two years of lull of militant violence in the city.
At least 30 people were injured on Saturday when Shia devotees clashed with the police in Srinagar, after they were prevented from taking out a Muharram procession, in violation of prohibitory orders in force in the city. Police fired warning shots in air, lobbed tear gas shells and used batons to disperse stone-pelting processionists at Lal Chowk and adjoining Abi Guzar, official sources said.
The strike called by separatist groups against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evoked a partial response in the Valley.
Murli Manohar Joshi demanded an apology from Omar Abdullah for saying that Jammu and Kashmir had not merged with India but it agreed to be with India under the accession instrument which had the clearance of the then Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten.
Two paramilitary border security force troopers and two civilian passers-by were injured when terrorists targeted a stationary BSF vehicle with a hand grenade in the high security area of Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Tuesday afternoon.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police have registered a case against Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, over burning of government properties by a mob during a protest rally in Srinagar, official sources said. An FIR was registered against the Mirwaiz at Shergarhi police station in Srinagar city under sections 121, 121-A, 153, 153-A, 336 and 446 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), the sources said.
Due to a 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' convened by farmers at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday, the Delhi Police has beefed up security and deployed heavy force for checking vehicles, which might lead to traffic snarls in the central parts of the city, officials said.
At least 14 persons including two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Forces troopers and two local cops were wounded in a powerful handgrenade explosion in the Batmallo locality of the summer capital this afternoon.
A near total general strike, public protests and widespread processions marred life across Kashmir on Friday. Thousands of people marched from various localities of summer capital Srinagar, converging on Lal Chowk, the city centre where they shouted slogans against the government and the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
Normal life came to a standstill in Lal chowk and adjoining areas of Srinagar on Tuesday as the killing of a 35-year-old relative of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik under mysterious circumstances sparked off spontaneous protests in the heart of the city, official sources said.
SAR Geelani, the Delhi University lecturer who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case and has been closely associated with the Kashmir issue, told Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that the Ekta Yatra is an indication that the BJP does not want to win over the hearts of the people in Kashmir, but wants to rule over them.
Kashmir is back in the focus, and this time it's thanks to the Bharatiya Janata Party's yatra to Srinagar to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk on Republic Day
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Onkar Singh, Thakur claimed that the Constitution gave him the right to hoist the tricolour anywhere in India.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday appealed the Bharatiya Janata Party 'not to create trouble and halt its yatra to Srinagar as the party will in no way be benefited by it'.
Anurag Thakur, chief of the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has vowed to go ahead with the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra and hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day, despite strong objections from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.Omar had told newsmen on Wednesday that the BJP should not go ahead with the planned yatra and try to unfurl the tricolour in Srinagar, as it may disrupt the fragile peace in the state after months of protests.
Amid heavy security and anti-poll protests, eight constituencies of summer capital Srinagar that went to polls in the last phase Wednesday recorded a low voter turnout. Separatists had called for anti-poll protests and a boycott of the elections. They had also asked people to march to the historic city centre, Lal Chowk for a protest sit-in.
The Congress leader said that the party has taken up the "biggest task" of fighting against the "dictatorial government" alleging that there is an "emergency-like situation" in the country.
The grenade was aimed at a Special Operations Group patrol near the Lal Chowk bus stand, but fell short of the target and exploded on the road.\n\n
Kashmir remained under curfew for the second consecutive day on Monday with police and paramilitary forces deployed heavily in the Valley to thwart any attempt by separatists to hold a protest march to Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
At least 12 people and four policemen were injured in fierce clashes that broke out in Srinagar's central area of Lal Chowk and neighbouring localities on Saturday afternoon, after the body of a 45-year-old civilian was found on the banks of river Jhelum.
Protests broke out again on Saturday in Maisuma, a stronghold of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik, who was injured during police baton charge in Lal Chowk on Friday.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday evening released chairman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik and chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.They were arrested ahead of their march to Lal Chowk last month. Geelani was taken to a hospital in Srinagar on Monday evening, after he complained of sickness in police custody.
One person was killed when the police and paramilitary forces opened fire to bring the mob under control in Narbal area of Srinagar, after baton charges and tear gas shells failed to disperse the crowd.On Monday morning, police swooped on the headquarters of the pro-Independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front at Maisuma, just hundred yards away from Lal Chowk, and arrested Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.
Protestors in various localities of Srinagar and other towns breached restrictions of curfew imposed by the authorities in the wee hours of Sunday, a day ahead of the sit-in dharna in the historic Lal Chowk called by the separatists. Early on Sunday morning, police vehicles fitted with loud speakers went around Srinagar and other towns announcing the imposition of curfew and asking people to stay indoors.
Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
The re-opening of the state government offices in Srinagar after the annual Darbar Move was marked by citywide shutdown and protests.
