Sopore -- known as the 'apple town' of Kashmir -- is fast gaining notoriety for becoming a safe haven of terrorists, especially of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, as it has seen a sudden spurt in violence during the last six weeks.
Former India captain Kapil Dev said that Afridi's comment does not even deserve a reaction.
'...through the will of the people and commitment of leaders.' 'It may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will happen.'
Pakistan-India bilateral relations remained frozen for the fourth year over the vexed Kashmir issue but analysts hope the strained ties could be repaired if Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister for a record fourth time in the general elections in February in the absence of his main challenger Imran Khan who is in jail in multiple cases.
However, it was not clear on what basis most of the people were being held.
The French president said that peace should be maintained in the region and peoples' rights should be protected.
State government offices, banks, educational institutions and business establishments also re-opened on Tuesday morning, as authorities withdrew the curfew restrictions. However, normal activity started petering out early in response to the call given by the co-ordination committee, which had asked shopkeepers to down their shutters at 1600 hours IST.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday came down heavily on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his 'murder of India in Manipur' remark in Lok Sabha, saying this is for the first time in parliamentary democracy that someone has made such a statement.
Shah made the announcement while addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of the five newly constituted Assam Police Commando battalions in Guwahati.
'When the decision was announced, the possibilities of cross border infiltration and terrorism, we know that there would be incitement to violence. We have simply taken preventive steps'
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have expressed his 'unhappiness' over the media coverage on violent protests in Kashmir Valley following killing of Burhan Wani saying the Hizbul Mujahideen militant has been portrayed as a "hero".
There were eight such cases in 2015, 31 cases in 2016 and five cases in 2017.
Mobile services were partially restored in the Valley which has been rocked by violence since July 8.
Restrictions on the movement of the people in parts of Srinagar, some areas in north Kashmir and four districts of south Kashmir, which were imposed on Saturday morning, continued to remain in force on Thursday.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, met on Thursday for the second time in five days to review the latest situation in Kashmir valley which relatively remained peaceful for the second straight day after being rocked by violence.
Pakistan's "deceitful stand" on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, "stands exposed" to the whole world, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters while replying to queries on Khan's remarks.
The situation in most parts of Kashmir Valley returned to normal after a week of curfew and violence, barring Anantnag town where police lobbed tear gas shells to quell stone-pelting protestors.
Political parties condemned the "dastardly" attack and said there can be no justification for targeting innocents.
'The terrorists will allow only those who practice their tenets to live in Kashmir,' argues Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Curfew was on Monday lifted from the entire Valley except three police station areas 51 days after it was clamped to maintain law and order.
Saeed, who plans to hold funeral prayers in absentia for Wani and others on Friday in Lahore, said issues in Kashmir should be resolved as per the wish of Kashmiri people.
'The Hindus of Jammu and the Buddhists of Leh find themselves in precisely the same position as did supporters of the Muslim League in pre-Partition India, only now the actors have reversed their roles.'
Fed up with repeated strikes by separatists in Kashmir Valley, shopkeepers are up in arms against protestors, who are tasting their own bitter pill as locals are attacking them with stones. Clerics have also started making fervent appeals from mosques to open shops and restore normalcy in violence affected areas. An incident of clash was recently reported from Peerbagh in Budgham district of Central Kashmir - the scene of violent protests during the last few weeks.
Khalid's petition challenging the October 18 last year order of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected his bail plea in the matter, came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra.
The concern of the Congress leadership over the situation could be gauged from the fact that Chidambaram was specially called to the meeting despite not being a CWC member.
'The bloodthirsty rhetoric of chicken-hawk TV anchors are the worst contributors to Kashmiri alienation.' 'If this implacable hatred is the authentic voice of India, Kashmiris argue, who can hope for peace?' asks Mihir S Sharma.
Clashes were reported from a number of places in Srinagar city and parts of Budgam district but nobody was hurt in these incidents, police said.
The home minister hoped that the second half of this year would be better but cautioned that infiltration may take place in Jammu and Kashmir during this summer. "As far as the first six months of this year is concerned, in the hinterland, not in the border states, there has been no incident of terror and no casualty....in Jammu and Kashmir we are keeping a vigil," he told reporters in New Delhi
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of All-Party Hurriyat Conference, has claimed that on July 13, the country will witness one of the biggest peaceful protests in their struggle for resolution of problem of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba asked Pakistan to take concrete confidence building measures towards reviving the peace and reconciliation process in the region to end the miseries of the people.
In a strong attack on Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his statements on Kashmir, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday told him that his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity".
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also took note of the affidavit of the Manipur chief secretary that there was no short supply of basic commodities like food and medicines for people facing economic blockade.
A blog linked to TRF, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, published the list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit employees who were recruited under the Prime Minister's Rehabilitation Package, and warned of mounting attacks on them.
In the last four years, Naxal violence has cost more civilian lives than the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, a report released by the Asian Centre for Human Rights has said.The number of civilians killed between 2005 and 2008 in Naxal conflicts is 1,965.In comparison, the number of civilians killed in the strife-torn northeast is 1,666 and in Jammu and Kashmir is 1,195.
On his first visit to Srinagar post the abrogation of Article 370, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that incidents of terrorism have declined and stone-throwing incidents too have ended in Jammu-Kashmir.
Violence erupted in south Kashmir's Anantnag town after an army truck crushed a youth on Saturday afternoon. Angry mobs took to the streets after a passing army truck ran over a youth identified as Mohammad Yasir Wani, 24, in the Anchidoora area of Anantnag town. The mobs roughed up the truck driver and a soldier and torched the vehicle.
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 Labour Party leader, whose stand on Kashmir has not gone down well with the Indian government, also tweeted a picture of the meeting.
There is a great danger of the government getting stampeded into actions in Kashmir that could result in long lasting damage, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
