Curfew was on Sunday lifted from all parts of Kashmir but normal life in the Valley remained affected due to the strike call given by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest against the firing incident in Ramban district that left four persons dead.
Onkar Singh, a valuable member of the Rediff.com team over the years, breathed his last on January 13. Syed Firdaus Ashraf, who knew him intimately, remembers the ultimate newsman.
The National Conference president also extended an invitation to the Mirwaiz and Mehbooba for a separate meeting.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq declares that neither force nor intimidation can silence the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, in the concluding part of his interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'The only way to proceed forward is India-Pakistan, India-Kashmir and Pakistan-Kashmir,' says Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz on met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the two are understood to have talked about bilateral relations.
Kashmir observed a complete shutdown on Friday against the alleged desecration of holy Quran by the US troops\nin Guantanamo Bay detention centre, official sources said.
Centre's pointsman N N Vohra is visiting Kashmir next week to attend the Indo-European Union round table conference in Srinagar and is likely to meet Hurriyat Conference leaders during his three-day stay.
In a break from past, there was no function at the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar after the government dropped July 13 from the list of gazetted holidays last year, officials said.
Geelani, who Islamabad's backing, is understood to have impressed upon Kasuri to do more on involving Kashmiris in the dialogue process.
"If Pakistan thinks that only the Hurriyat represents the people of Kashmir, then there is something fundamentally wrong with their understanding of realities in J&K."
The prime minister has accepted the invitation. The dates will be finalised through diplomatic channels.
Among them are Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Shabir Ahmed Shah.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Monday night said he was asked by the government to represent it at the Pakistan National Day reception at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.
The team, comprising a specialist and two anesthetists, will fly to Srinagar by a special aircraft, official sources said.
Leader of the breakaway faction of the Hurriyat Conference refused to meet Union Textiles Secretary Wajahat Habibullah.
"Because of the political stature of Syed Ali Geelani, Prime Minister Sharif invited him to visit Pakistan and exchange views on the current situation in Kashmir," Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah told reporters in Islamabad.
A fresh audio tape purportedly carrying his voice appeared in the social media in which the engineering-student-turned militant, Moosa, said that he was not representing Hizbul Mujahideen anymore.
'These militants are our relatives, our brothers. How can we watch the security forces kill them?' Political Front leader Mohammed Musadiq Aadil explains why they pulled out of the dialogue with the Centre.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
There were no restrictions on the movement or assembly of people anywhere in the Valley.
"We will talk to the government and put forth our case. We have a strong case to plead for the resolution of Kashmir issue," former APHC chief, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, said at a Friday congregation in Srinagar.
'Govt of India should stop harping that Kashmir is an integral part of India. They should come out open with their ideas. '
Pakistan wants a 'sustained and result-oriented' engagement with India to find a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue that could usher in peace and stability in the region, President Asif Ali Zardari told a visiting Hurriyat delegation on Thursday.
Authorities have mounted a severe security bandobast to maintain law and order on Friday, even as the curfew continued for the sixth day in the old city and some major areas of the valley.
He is suspected to be suffering from cancer in the kidney.
Chiefs of both factions of Hurriyat Conference -- Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq -- were on Saturday placed under house arrest in the national capital as a preventive measure following the hanging of Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case.
Separatists on Friday extended the shutdown call in Kashmir till July 18 to protest against the killing of civilians and demanding lifting of curfew in the valley.
Qazi Ahadullah is the second political leader to be released in five days.
