The Srinagar-Jammu national highway connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country remained closed for the third consecutive day on Thursday as the Valley and Ladakh region reeled under intense cold conditions with the night temperature in Pahalgam plunging to the season's lowest of minus 12.2 degrees Celsius.
Since the bypass is connected with the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, an alert was also sounded and checking of vehicles was intensified.
Army troops opened fire after noticing suspicious movement in a forward area near the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district, while security forces conducted searches at more than a dozen places in Poonch, Samba, and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said.
'Due to orographic rainfall, localised areas are experiencing intense downpours.' 'In a very heavy downpour, the burst of water has to find its way and therefore whatever comes in its path gets washed away.'
Heavy rains lashed wide parts of Jammu and Kashmir over the past couple of days, triggering landslides at many places and raising the level of water bodies.
The Kashmir Valley remained cut-off from rest of the country for the second consecutive day on Saturday, but improvement in weather has raised hopes of early restoration of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
The LG said around 2.36 lakh pilgrims had registered for the yatra before the attack took place at Baisaran in Pahalgam area that left 26 persons -- mostly tourists -- dead.
Strong demand for cultural and spiritual hubs is expected for destinations like Varanasi, Kolkata during Durga Puja, and Pushkar for the camel fair, besides leisure destinations like Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur and Coorg.
Two civilians were injured in a terrorist attack in south Kashmir highway town of Awantipore on Wednesday afternoon.
Three Army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed when their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a 500-metre deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district on Sunday. The Army truck was part of a convoy moving from Jammu to Srinagar along national highway-44. The accident occurred near Battery Chashma at around 11.30 am. A joint rescue operation was launched immediately by Army, police, State Disaster Response Force and local volunteers. The deceased were identified as Naib-Subedar Sujeet Kumar, driver Amit Kumar and sepoy Man Bahadur. The crash has reduced the vehicle into a mangled heap of metal. Preliminary investigation suggested that the accident was caused by a technical glitch in the vehicle.
Kashmir is witnessing a fresh spell of wet weather with higher reaches receiving heavy snowfall and plains lashed by a mix of rain and snow.
Political parties held protests against the ban on April 7 as well as Wednesday.
The weather department has forecast widespread snowfall or rains over the next two days also.
One more infant died at the G B Pant hospital in Srinagar, leading to protests by grieved family members who blocked the Srinagar-Jammu national highway for an hour.
Heavy snowfall lashed Kashmir on Saturday morning, bringing normal life to a halt.The snowfall has forced the closure of the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for the second day today. State authorities said snow clearance operations have started, but the traffic on the highway would be allowed to ply only when the weather improves. Road connectivity between different districts of the Valley and Srinagar has also been disrupted by the heavy snowfall.
The closure of the only road link resulted in increase in the prices of essential commodities and shortage of LPG and other items.
In all, over a dozen people were injured in the explosion in the main market in Bejibehara town located on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Relentless heavy rain led to a landslide on the route to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop the Trikuta hill on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least five people and injuring 14, officials said.
One of the oldest routes of the country, the highway has been cleared of all roadblocks and work will be starting to connect the Valley with Poonch and Rajouri districts as the Supreme Court gave its nod.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
A British tourist was murdered on Friday night allegedly by a tourist from Holland in a houseboat on Dal Lake were both of them were staying. A senior police officer said that the Dutch tourist David Richard, who tried to flee the valley, was nabbed early on Saturday from Qazigund in south Kashmir, 80 km from Srinagar, on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
The Indian Army has neutralized a terrorist in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir during an encounter with security forces. The Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General M V Suchindra Kumar commended the troops for their swift action and reiterated the army's commitment to keeping the region terror-free.
Surface and air links between Kashmir and rest of the country were cut off on Wednesday due to snowfall in the valley as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for traffic and all flights to Srinagar Airport cancelled.
Sources said no vehicles were being allowed to leave Srinagar or Jammu on Friday as about one foot of snow had accumulated near the tunnel at Banihal. They said about 2,000 passengers, besides drivers and conductors of trucks and other vehicles, have been stranded on the highway for the past three days.
The Valley is under darkness due to damage to four power transmission towers near the Jawahar tunnel.
Corms of Saffron, the world's costliest spice are these days in full bloom in the highlands of Pampore, a town 14 kilometres south of capital Srinagar. Mukhtar Ahmed reports.
Kashmiris stranded in Jammu due to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway have demanded subsidised airfares from the government to help them fly back to Srinagar.
Unidentified militants lobbed a grenade on a CRPF patrol at Awantipora chowk, 30 kms from Srinagar, around 1215 IST, they added.
The Amarnath yatra was suspended on Saturday due to closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in the wake of a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Udhampur district of the state.
Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day on Monday as snowfall blocked the vital Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and delayed all scheduled flights to the Valley.
Kashmir remained cut-off from the rest of the country for the second day on Thursday with road and air links to the Valley snapped due to snowfall, the heaviest in a decade in the month of January.
Fresh snowfall brought respite from intense cold to the residents of Kashmir Valley as night temperatures rose considerably, even as it led to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Saturday.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
Kashmiris across the region condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, with widespread protests and a shutdown in Srinagar and other parts of the valley. The attack was seen as an assault on the foundation of Kashmir's economy, with residents highlighting the importance of tourism to the region's livelihood. Protests were held in various districts, including Srinagar, Kulgam, Handwara, and Ramban, with residents united in their condemnation of the violence and calling for an end to terrorism.
A hunt is underway to nab the terrorists who carried out the attack.
Fifteen pilgrims were killed and 18 others wounded in a road accident in the mountainous Ramban district of Jammu region on Saturday night.
North India on Saturday received a much-needed respite from the intense cold as temperatures rose by a few notches in the region, although eight more people succumbed in Uttar Pradesh due to the winter chill. As the mercury rose, Kashmir received fresh snowfall in the morning, which forced closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh, too, received slight snowfall, with the temperatures rising a few notches across the state.
Mixing humour with political resolve, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday used the flagging-off ceremony of the first train to Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Katra to subtly but clearly articulate his government's demand for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the Met department, Srinagar recorded 0.4 mm of snowfall till 0830 am.
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