Sopore -- known as the 'apple town' of Kashmir -- is fast gaining notoriety for becoming a safe haven of terrorists, especially of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, as it has seen a sudden spurt in violence during the last six weeks.
With the launch, RCom became the first private service provider to launch the service in Kashmir Valley.
Barring a clash between protesters and security forces which left one person injured in Sopore, situation in strike-hit Kashmir Valley remained calm though restrictions were imposed in parts of interior city where Hurriyat Conference had planned to hold a meeting.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a high-level meeting on June 3 to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the second such exercise in less than a fortnight which comes at a time when terrorists have been carrying out targeted killings in the Valley.
Dulat, who was advisor on Jammu and Kashmir to the central government during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, also advocated the need for starting a dialogue with Pakistan.
Despite assurances by the Jammu and Kashmir government, over 100 more terror-stricken panches and sarpanches announced their resignations through paid advertisements in the valley.
Chidambaram, who arrived in the north Kashmir town of Baramulla from Kargil in Ladakh region, took stock of the situation in Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara -- the three districts along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Valley which witnessed violent protests during the past four months.
Security forces gunned down five militants in north Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Thursday night.
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The area has been cordoned off and counter-operations are in progress.
While six of them have been held from Punjab, five were nabbed from neighbouring Haryana, and one from Uttar Pradesh.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
Acting on specific input about the presence of terrorists in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of Baramulla district in north Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there early Thursday morning, a police official said.
Power supply in the snow-bound Valley has become almost normal with the state electricity department ensuring working of almost all the 19 power stations including those in far flung Lolab and Tangdhar areas of north Kashmir.
Climate scientists warn that climate change is intensifying heatwaves in India, with the cooling effects of La Nia potentially becoming less effective in a warmer future. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts an early summer with above-normal temperatures and intense heatwave spells, following an unusually dry winter and the warmest February since 1901. Experts emphasize the role of human-caused climate change, along with natural climate drivers like El Nio and La Nia, in shaping weather patterns. While La Nia typically brings cooler temperatures, scientists suggest that under climate change, its ability to mitigate heatwaves may be diminished.
A top terrorist commander of the frontline Lashkar-e-Tayiba outfit was among two militants killed in two separate encounters in north Kashmir on Thursday.
Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Kashmir Valley with minimum temperatures remaining several degrees below the freezing point.
After occupying it for over two decades, paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force vacated the Firdous Cinema located in the old city, thereby meeting a long pending demand of the locals.
The nightlong fierce gunfight in north Kashmir Kupwara district ended early on Tuesday morning after the three holed up militants were killed.
A 22-year-old civilian was killed allegedly in firing by security forces in a remote village of Baramulla district in north Kashmir, leading to protests in the area, official sources said on Friday night.
Normal life was affected in Kashmir for the third consecutive day on Wednesday because of the curfew in several parts of the valley to prevent deterioration of law and order in the wake of killing of a youth allegedly in army firing in Baramulla.
The terrorists attacked a police station in Handwara area of Kupwara by resorting to firing and also lobbed a grenade, a police officer said.
Leh in Ladakh region recorded the lowest temperature this winter as mercury plummeted to minus 17.1 degree Celsius on Tuesday night, a meteorological department official said.
Priyanka Gandhi made a low-key visit to Kashmir during which she offered prayers at the Mata Kheer Bhawani shrine in Ganderbal district, officials said on Friday.
The attacks against the Pakistani air force have taken them at least five years back and caused great damage to them and their Chinese and Turkish inventory of weapons.
The killing of a youth, by the army in northern Kashmir's Baramulla district, triggered protests on Saturday, even as the army claimed that the youth had forcibly entered their camp and injured a soldier.The youth, identified as 25-year old Sajad Ahmad Ganai, was asked to stop by a guard manning the main gate of an army camp in north Kashmir's Wattergam village in Baramulla.When the youth did not heed the warning, the sentry opened fire, killing him instantly, sources said.
The NIA will seek their transit remand and bring them to Delhi for further questioning
'From the time we landed to the time we left, we got so much love that I didn't feel like coming home.'
Three civilians were injured in a powerful explosion in North Kashmir's Kupwara district on Tuesday afternoon.
Two days after a village head was gunned down in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, scare and panic has struck the elected village heads and representatives in the region, forcing many of them to resign.
'Indian Army officers always lead their men into battle or combat. Pakistani officers are seldom seen at the front.'
The Border Security Force has ordered mobilisation of additional manpower at posts along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu as part of its measures to strengthen the anti-infiltration grid and check the intrusion of drones carrying ammunition or drugs, official sources said Monday.
Five paramilitary, Central Reserve Police Force troopers were injured, two of them critically, in a powerful blast at Sopore in north Kashmir Baramulla district on Sunday morning.
A top militant commander of the Laskar-e-Tayiba was killed in a fierce encounter in North Kashmir's Sopore on Tuesday afternoon.
Two 'foreign' militants were killed in a daylong encounter in Chattergul village of north Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Sunday.
Life in the Kashmir valley was affected on Monday by a protest shutdown against the killing of two youth in firing allegedly by the army on Sunday.
There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in these clashes.
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
Writers and creators are telling more authentic stories based in states and cities that we may not have seen much of in mainstream media, such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Or ones that we have some mistaken notions about like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, highlights Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
