Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hit the poll campaign trail in support of his party candidates on Saturday by addressing a mega rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, amid tight security arrangements.
As part of the heightened security arrangements in view of Modi's visit, the officials said, the BSF and the police conducted a joint two-hour-long anti-tunnelling operation in the Ramgarh sector of Samba district.
Amid heightened tension on the border, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice on Monday targeting Indian forward posts along the International Border in Poonch and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
As many as 20 Jawans of BSF were trapped in a border outpost due to flash floods in Basantar river triggered by heavy rains in forward areas of the International Border in Ramgarh sector of Samba district on Friday, a defence spokesman said.
The anti-terror operation was part of Indian security forces' counter-offensive Operation Asan, launched after terrorists attacked an Army convoy in the Battal area on October 28.
Army staged a flag march after 14 people, including 10 police personnel, were injured as locals protesting an alleged sacrilegious act in Samba district pelted stones on police and indulged in arson late Thursday night.
There was no traditional exchange of sweets and pleasantries between the two sides along the International Border, the officials said, attributing it to the tense situation following the recent ceasefire violations by Pakistan Rangers that left a Border Security Force jawan dead.
What India needs more than one simultaneous election is better governance both at the central and state level. Yes, we need reforms, but our priority should be to make elections less expensive, make it more democratic, do away with freebies which are actually bribes before elections, allow only those who are educated to contest, and bring in a bill to make it impossible for criminals to contest, advocates Ramesh Menon.
Nine-year-old Jaimini Soni's extraordinary feat.
Long denied the right to vote, members of the Valmiki community exercised their franchise for the first time in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections on Tuesday and termed it as a "historic moment".
A voter turnout of 69.69 percent was recorded in the third and final phase of voting Tuesday in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission said.
The first phase of the polls in the Kashmir Valley saw 8.3 per cent turnout on October 8 while only 3.4 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise in the second phase held two days later.
The army on Sunday ordered a Court of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on 16 Cavalry camp in Samba on September 26 in which its four personnel, including a Lt Col, were killed and two others, one of them a Colonel, injured.
The latest ceasefire violations -- the tenth and eleventh in less than a week -- has come a day after an Army jawan was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.
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Christopher Samba continued his push to leave Blackburn Rovers on Friday, accusing the Premier League club's Indian owners Venky's of breaking their promises and "not understanding English football."
Security forces on Tuesday morning gunned down two terrorists holed up in a forest area near a village in the Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir, taking the number of militants killed in the 27-hour-long gunfight near the Line of Control (LoC) to three, officials said.
In the backdrop of the night-long firing by Pakistan Rangers targeting civilians areas and BoPs, BSF troops and the Rangers on Friday held a commandant-level flag-meeting along International Border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, during which they impressed upon each other to respect the ceasefire.
One paramilitary border security force trooper was killed and another critically wounded in unprovoked Pakistani firing on the international border in Samba sector of Jammu region late Wednesday morning.
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Thursday advocated shifting border residents of Samba district to safer places in view of travails they had to face during the recent heavy cross-border firing and shelling.He was on an extensive visit to border areas of Samba district to assess the situation arisen due to recent firing from Pakistan.
The three heavily-armed terrorists killed by the Border Security Force in Samba district had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to carry out a chain of terror attacks by blowing up running trains and tracks with chained IEDs and hard to detect liquid explosives, a top force official said on Wednesday.
The terrorists opened fired and lobbed grenades at the Army camp in Meshwara area of Samba around 5:50 am, security officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the decision to transform Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory is 'temporary' and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will restore the statehood to the region.
In yet another instance of friction in an army unit, jawans and officers of an armoured unit were allegedly involved in a face off after a soldier committed suicide on Wednesday in the Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
The troops of these two units are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
Stepping up ceasefire violations, Pakistani Rangers on Friday night resorted to heavy mortar shelling and firing on 8 BSF posts along the Indo-Pak border in Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, forcing a strong retaliation from the Indian side.
Reliance on technical intelligence has not been fruitful as terrorists use online activity to mislead authorities. Officials feel that there is an urgent need for heightened surveillance to counter foreign terrorists, especially in the Jammu region.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday reviewed the functioning of security grid at a high level meeting in winter capital Jammu following the twin militant attacks on Thursday that left four army personnel including a lieutenant colonel, four cops and two civilians dead.
Heat wave is believed to have contributed to several voters not turning up at polling stations in both the phases.
The troops busted a natural hideout in which a large cache of arms, ammunition and other warlike stores was recovered.
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
There was no connection between the suicide of an army soldier and the stand-off between officers and jawans in an armoured unit in Samba sector in Jammu and Kashmir, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh said on Thursday.
3 pistols, 4 grenades, 6 magazines and 48 rounds were recovered from the drone-delivered package.
The second phase of the Lok Sabha election ended on Friday, April 26, 2024, for 88 seats across 13 states.
Clowns on stilts, bongo-beating boys and flaming torches also greeted Ronaldo and his team mates in the southern city of Guangzhou as they arrived for Wednesday's friendly against China.
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The manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the ambush in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, which resulted in the tragic death of five army personnel, has led to the detention of a truck driver and 50 others for questioning, officials said on Wednesday.
Pakistani troops opened firing at around 2240 hours at Kandral border outpost along the international border, drawing retaliation from Border Security Forces personnel triggering intermittent exchange of fire, which was on well past midnight, police said.
