An earthquake of mild intensity hit Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and some other parts of north India in the early hours of Saturday morning. Noida received three severe jolts, according to the residents of the commercial city of Uttar Pradesh. Other places from where reports of tremors were felt forcing people to come out of their houses included Faridabad in Haryana, Chandigarh, Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and some other places in the north.
'We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea'
Mercury plummeted in Kashmir Valley on Thursdayafter a slight respite for few days, dropping further below the freezing point with Kargil recording a new low of minus 15.8 degrees Celsius this season.
Seven militants and two army troopers were among nine persons killed in fierce separate gunfights in the north Kashmir Kupwara border district on Wednesday.
Three persons including a policeman and two militants were killed while 14 others including seven army men, three paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force troopers and four cops were wounded in an over 24-hour-long north Kashmir gunfight that ended on Wednesday evening.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, announced to launch his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood.
It was another chilly morning in the national capital as icy winds swept the city while early morning fog disrupted rail operations, delaying 52 trains.
Army troops on Thursday foiled an infiltration bid on the Line of Control in Uri sector of north Kashmir Baramulla district eliminating five intruders.
'The more harder India pushes its nationalism on to its population, the further away we send Kashmiris.' 'We should understand that the unrest in that state cannot be solved by demonetisation. There are much deeper causes,' says Aakar Patel.
The encounters took place in Pulwama, Ganderbal and Kupwara districts of the Kashmir valley, a police official said.
Jan Mohammad Kakroo was the district president of the party and office bearer of the local fruit growers association.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
The UPA's failure to reach out to Kashmiris and the NDA's 'anti-Muslim' stance has fuelled anger in the Kashmir valley.
A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, who was seen in a video taken during the funeral of outfit commander Sabzar Bhat last week, has surrendered before authorities in Kashmir, the police said on Wednesday.
Fresh clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in Kashmir, even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit the Valley on Saturday.
'The Kashmiri identity and its unique blend of Sufi Islam, its culture and language can best survive in a plural and secular India.' 'Neither independence nor merger with Pakistan can achieve that objective.' 'Peace will return to Kashmir only when Kashmiris realise this, else they will be part of the 1,000- year war,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Most of the suspects behind the killing of a key aide of Jaish e Mohammed terror group chief Masood Azhar and his two associates have been arrested, the police chief of Pakistan's Punjab province said on Friday, days after the trio were shot dead at a mosque in Sialkot city.
The matter was expected to be discussed in the Security Council Consultations Room under "other matters" during closed consultations Tuesday afternoon.
The yatra to the Holy cave shrine of Amarnath resumed on Saturday morning from north Kashmir's Baltel route after remaining suspended on Friday.
The deceased have been identified as Major K P Rane, hawaldars Jamie Singh and Vikramjeet and rifleman Mandeep.
Weapons and other incriminating material were recovered from the spot.
The JCO was injured in the firing at around 1.30 pm and was taken to a military hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries, they said. The civilian, Mohmmad Rashid has been shifted to GMC hospital in Jammu for specialised treatment, the officials said.
An exchange of fire between terrorists and security forces was also reported from Keran sector.
This was the second infiltration attempt in last two days.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday came down heavily on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his 'murder of India in Manipur' remark in Lok Sabha, saying this is for the first time in parliamentary democracy that someone has made such a statement.
Two officers -- Lt Colonel Mukesh Jha and Major Amardeep Singh -- are among the five injured army personnel.
'We are facing a brutal war here and everything is being destroyed and bombarded in a matter of seconds'
There were no restrictions on the movement or assembly of people anywhere in the Valley.
The last rites will be held at the Lodhi Road crematorium in New Delhi on Friday.
Neither the BJP, nor the Congress before it, made any manifesto commitments on defence spending, even though allocations have plummeted from 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the late 1980s to less than 2 per cent today, points out Ajai Shukla.
Curfew remained in force in entire Srinagar district and Anantnag town on Saturday to thwart the separatists' plan to stage a two-day sit-in in the city centre even as the death toll in the ongoing unrest climbed to 56 in the Valley with the death of a youth injured in firing.
The earthquake epicentred in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan struck at around 2.40 pm, sending ripples across several states like Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi- National Capital Region, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
Security forces have been deployed in strength in sensitive and vulnerable areas to maintain law and order.
Eleven more people died in Uttar Pradesh as the intense cold wave sweeping north India maintained its firm grip over the region with Kargil town in Jammu and Kashmir freezing at minus 16.4 degrees Celsius.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
'Assam is not a dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindu refugees,' says Assamese actor Ravi Sharma who joined the BJP in August and quit the party on December 10 in protest against the Citizenship Act.
Curfew continued to cripple the Valley for the tenth day.
He said the identity and group affiliation of the slain ultras is being ascertained.
The bench said the statements made by Bhim Singh may not be 'relevant judicially' but they may be 'relevant politically'.
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