'It will be a long time before we will see the likes of Vajpayee again.'
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has launched an ambitious plan to reach out to at least 10,000 key opinion makers -- jurists, bureaucrats, etc -- in the next two years to dispel "misinformation" related to Article 370 of the Constitution.
Restrictions were imposed in north Kashmir and some areas of central Kashmir to thwart the march announced by separatists to Jamia Masjid.
Curfew continued to cripple the Valley for the tenth day.
A youth was killed and three others injured as security forces opened fire in Kupwara district of Kashmir to disperse protesters who were pelting stones on an army camp.
Restrictions have been imposed in five police station areas of Srinagar, a police official said.
Director General of Police S P Vaid said that Burhan Wani's successor Sabzar Ahmad Bhat is among the two terrorists killed in the encounter in Soimoh area of Tral on Saturday morning.
Top Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were on Thursday put under house arrest only to be released within hours in actions that were linked to their proposed meeting with Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz in Delhi on Sunday.
The re-opening of the state government offices in Srinagar after the annual Darbar Move was marked by citywide shutdown and protests.
The state government pointed accusing fingers at separatists, saying they had started the "era of destruction" in Kashmir but were now trying to find an escape route.
Both sides will discuss the ongoing incidents of ceasefire violations at the border, the resolution of which will be given topmost priority
Squashing erstwhile 'separatists', marginalising the 'mainstream', and squeezing funding channels have all evidently had an impact -- at least for the moment, notes David Devadas after a visit to Srinagar.
Curfew-like restrictions were imposed on Saturday in parts of Kashmir, including Srinagar city, and Amarnath yatra suspended as authorities apprehended protests in the Valley, where tension prevailed following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces.
'Fighting terrorists is one thing. Fighting insurgents is worse. Fighting a population is worst of all,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Pakistan perceives that if it had declared Gilgit-Baltistan, PoK or both, which are only a part of the territories of J&K, as legitimate provinces of Pakistan it would weaken its case for the entire J&K and lead to legal complications, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The Pakistan high commission has invited Kashmiri separatist leaders for consultations with Sartaj Aziz ahead of the National Security Advisor-level talks with India in New Delhi next week.
Justifying the security extended to separatist leaders of Kashmir Valley, Union minister Jitendra Singh has said that they faced threat from Pakistan which might attack them to blame it on India.
'Viewed militarily, the cease-fire puts the brakes for sure on the hard fought dominance that our security forces have achieved.' 'The ensuing weeks will witness their losing ground to the terrorists,' fears Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Major opposition political parties and separatists groups in J&K on Wednesday slammed the move of the government to create separate townships for Kashmiri pandit migrants.
The dialogue with Malik will be the prime minister's second meeting with a separatist group outside the Hurriyat Conference fold.
'The first clear cut call for 'engagement with all stake holders including separatists' came, not from the political class but the men in uniform,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished observer on Kashmir.
'Her tussle is a different ballgame from what it was when Farooq Abdullah and Rajiv Gandhi were the main players at the two ends of the power game.' 'The shadow of the party in power in New Delhi over J&K affairs in 1987 was not as menacing as it is in 2018,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the doyen of Kashmir commentators.
Clashes broke out between youths and security forces in several areas of Srinagar and Anantnag districts after Eid prayers on Friday even as separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were put under house arrest as a precautionary measure.
Talks will ensure the rise of Islamism in Kashmir and the death of the Idea of India, warns Vivek Gumaste.
Normal life has been paralysed due to curfew-like restrictions and separatists-sponsored strike since Saturday.
The BSF opened fire in Pakharpora near Charar-e-Sharif area to quell stone-pelting protesters in which at least one person was killed and five injured.
The tunnel, bypassing snow-bound upper reaches, will reduce the journey time by two hours and provide a safe, all-weather route to commuters travelling from Jammu and Udhampur to Ramban, Banihal and Srinagar.
Hundreds others were wounded many of whom received bullet and pellet injuries and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.
2016 saw the worst unrest in the Kashmir valley in 26 years.
Kashmir remained on the edge with six more persons, including a cop getting killed in violence on Sunday.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
'Once the violence is contained, the politicians must play their role, but unfortunately that is not happening.'
Earlier in 2010, the highest number of 156 terrorists were killed between January and July that year.
Proceedings related to terror masterminds Yasin Bhatkal and Abdul Karim Tunda in 2013 hogged the limelight in Delhi courts, which brought down the curtains in the Batla House encounter case by giving life term to a suspected terrorist of the Indian Mujahideen module.
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