The voter turnout in the first three phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low.
'In today's political spectrum, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that always says, nation first.'
Curfew in many parts and separatist-sponsored strike disrupted normal life for the 30th straight day on Sunday in Kashmir Valley where violence has so far left 54 persons dead and more than 6000 others injured.
Vijay Kumar, the bank manager, was shot inside the premises on Thursday morning and died on the way to hospital.
Amid controversy over the Gulmarg fashion show held during the month of Ramzan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said his government would have never given permission for such an event in any month of the year.
'It is a matter of regret that the BJP and PDP refused to take the Pandits aboard in this government.' 'The present government is following a policy of soft secessionism.'
Here are glimpses into the lives of Kashmiris, who live in a place described as paradise on earth.
According to officials, 46 deaths have been recorded in terrorism-related violence since January this year in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and nearby Reasi district.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is poised to form the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, having secured a victory in the assembly elections by securing 49 out of 90 seats on which polls were held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 five years ago.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram arrived in Srinagar on Monday afternoon on a two-day visit to Kashmir Valley to review the overall security situation in the state and arrangements made for the annual Amarnath yatra.
The expert panel, set up by the home ministry to find an alternative to pellet guns, is believed to have zeroed in on 'PAVA shells', a chilli-based ammunition, which is less lethal and immobilises the target.
Highlights of the judgment pronounced by a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court that on Monday unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution bestowing special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's car grazed a truck on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district on Saturday evening, officials said.
After remaining shut for 100 days, schools in Kashmir Valley reopened on Monday, with students and teachers given a free passage by security forces despite curfew and restrictions in many parts. However, attendance was thin against the backdrop of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges. The education system in the valley had become a collateral damage in the ongoing unrest.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa tells how the 2010 uprising in Kashmir gave the Lashkar-e-Tayiba a strong foothold in the Kashmir Valley
The 40-day period marks the harshest phase of the winter in the Kashmir valley.
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'.
The highway was closed on Saturday due to heavy snowfall and landslides.
Rahul said it is clear that things are "not normal" in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indefinite curfew was clamped in all major towns of the Kashmir Valley on Saturday in the wake of protests, even as the death toll in the violent clashes between locals and security forces rose to four.
They said the terrorists opened fire on the vehicle at Botapathri near Nagin post.
Fresh clashes broke out in curfew-bound Kashmir Valley on Saturday in which 30 persons, including 15 security personnel were injured, as protests against the Ramban killings on Thursday continued in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir Valley continued to remain in the grip of a severe cold wave even as the authorities claimed to have restored power supply in the entire valley on Monday evening, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
Mercury plummeted in Kashmir Valley on Thursdayafter a slight respite for few days, dropping further below the freezing point with Kargil recording a new low of minus 15.8 degrees Celsius this season.
Curfew remained in force in six police station areas of the city, Anantnag town, Kokernag and Khanpora in Baramulla district as restrictions on assembly of four or more people continued in entire Kashmir.
India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire along the border in J&K, the first formal truce between the two armies since the outbreak of militancy in the state.
Stone pelting in Kashmir valley appears to be fast turning into a lucrative 'business' for some unemployed youths offering this 'service' for a price.
Authorities have imposed curfew or restrictions on movement of people in most parts of Kashmir Valley to foil plans of separatists to hold protests demanding handing over of the body of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru to his family.
Traveller and trekker Amit Tyagi writes about the hidden gems of Kashmir. You won't regret including them in your next itinerary.
The government continues to grope in the dark while looking for an initiative, which would end the three month cycle of violence that has claimed 69 lives and disturbed the peace in Kashmir Valley.
Curfew was on Saturday lifted from Kashmir Valley, a week after it was imposed following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. "Curfew has been lifted from all the ten districts in the Valley," a police spokesman said.
"The Secretary-General regrets the latest loss of life. He (Ban) calls for an immediate end to violence and urges calm and restraint by all concerned," Martin Nesirky told media persons on Wednesday, adding that Ban was "closely following events".
Curfew continued without any relaxation in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir valley on Thursday where protestors defied curfew and clashed with the police in Sopore town. Meanwhile, Yasir Hamid Sheikh, cousin of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik, succumbed to injuries at a private hospital in New Delhi in the wee hours of Thursday, said party spokesman Altaf Khan.
Security forces on Saturday killed three terrorists, including two who had allegedly snatched rifles from policemen in Kulgam district earlier this week, in separate operations in Shopian and Sopore areas of Kashmir valley. Acting on specific information, security forces on Friday night launched a search operation in Lehend-Habdipora area of the Shopian district, 52 kms from Srinagar, officials said.
Known as 'paradise on the earth', moutnain-locked Kashmir Valley would soon come up on the country's railway map as the local train traffic would commence in the Valley by end of 2006.
Life in the Kashmir valley was affected on Monday by a protest shutdown against the killing of two youth in firing allegedly by the army on Sunday.
The NIA had arrested seven persons on July 24 in the case of alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley to fuel unrest.
Terrorism decreased, corruption and dynastic politics ended and an era of peace, development, prosperity started on August 5, 2019, said Shah as he reached out to the youths in the Valley urging them to stand up to disruptive elements and become ambassadors of peace.
Khanday was reinstated during a cabinet meeting chaired by state chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu Sunday.
