There will be eight more phases of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The election is scheduled for February 13. Their names have reportedly been cleared by the coalition government of the NC and the Congress.
Curfew was clamped again in Jammu and the army was deployed on Wednesday after violence erupted late on Tuesday night leaving 40 people, including nine policemen, injured.However, the curfew was relaxed for varying periods in Samba, Udhampur and Kishtwar districts.National Security Advisor M K Narayanan today met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and other top officials of the state administration to discuss the present security situation.
While pitching for better ties between India and Pakistan, she called for immediate peace on the borders.
The two days come in the midst of the Chaitra Navratra -- a nine-day period of fasting and spiritual importance for the prime minister.
A senior police officer told rediff.com that the mishap occurred when the driver lost control of the bus, which was on its way to Udhampur from Katra.
Veerander Singh had a verbal duel with company commander Inspector Snoop following which he opened fire at him and another jawan identified as Parveen Kumar near the cave shrine, leaving both of them in a critical condition, DIG (Reasi Udhampur Range) Alok Puri told PTI. The jawan later committed suicide by shooting himself with the self loading rifle, he added.
Eight militants were killed across Jammu and Kashmir in three different gunfights between security forces and militants Wednesday.
Jammu woke up to a tense morning on Saturday as the Army was called in to help the administration in maintaining law and order after violent protests over the Amarnath land row.The Army was called in Jammu city and other curfew bound areas of the district and continues to remain deployed along with police and paramilitary forces.The Army was deployed in the adjoining district of Samba since Friday evening, in the wake of violence here in which two persons died.
General T N Raina was an iconic Indian military leader whose contributions to the nation should be more widely known, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The Army is retaliating strongly and effectively, the spokesman said.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for traffic for the third day on Friday due to fresh landslides triggered by heavy rains, leaving over 500 Kashmir-bound passengers stranded.
A suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist was killed on Thursday in a brief gunfight with security forces in a village in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, police said.
This is the first case in the Valley in which Indian Army personnel have been awarded life terms on these charges.
Shops downed shutters, educational institutions were shut and fewer vehicles plied on roads as government offices reported thin attendance in the state.
The Army is not in favour of a ceasefire with militants in Jammu and Kashmir during the month of Ramzan as they can pose a bigger security threat while merging with the civilian population.
Ignoring the separatists' call to shun the vote, electors in the five districts emulated the trend seen in the first phase by turning up at polling booths in large numbers at 8 am, the scheduled start of voting. It turned out to be an impressive 71.28 per cent turnout in the second phase.
Incessant rains have hampered the restoration work and it was diffcult to say when the highway could become traffic worthy.
A senior Congressman from South India told Rediff.com, "This is a big setback for Rahul Gandhi's strategy of stalling Parliament. Sushma has not resigned and Khargeji is speaking and debating. What does it say about our stand in this session?"
Railways proposes to complete over 550 kms of new lines in eight sections, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced on Friday.
The Army has appointed Lt Gen NPS Hira as Deputy Chief of Army Staff with effect from March 14.
As the Indian Army reported its first case of the infection with a 34-year-old soldier testing positive in Leh, the Army said it has taken a series of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the forces such as checking flu symptoms among soldiers on their return from leave and cancelling non-essential travel, conferences and recruitment drives.
The authorities have also formed committees of senior defence personnel, to recommend steps for checking such behaviour among the troops.
'The lush green of Kashmir was exactly like the postcards and posters I had seen growing up.'
A peace march was taken out in Doda district, where 19 Hindus were killed, to express solidarity with families of the victims.
Four Army men died on the spot when a mine-protected vehicle of the 23 Rastriya Rifles unit fell in a 300-feet deep gorge on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
Large swathes of the country reeled under heatwave conditions on Tuesday with Churu in Rajasthan recording a high of 48 degree Celsius.
Union Minister P Chidambaram has opted out of the Lok Sabha election with the party on Thursday night nominating his son Karti from his constituency Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu while another Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was brought as a candidate from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two Army jawans, hawildar Virpal Singh and sepoy Karodimal, were killed in a fierce gun-battle with militants at village Kund.
They were stranded on a concrete platform at the bottom of a pillar of an under-construction structure to create a lake at Baghwati Nagar, they said.
Officials said the government has made necessary arrangements for opening of 190 primary schools in Srinagar city as security forces remained deployed in most of the Valley.
While Chakraborty's family has claimed she was unhappy with the job, the army has maintained that she was suffering from depression due to low self-esteem.
Susmita Chakravorty shot herself on Thursday night.
