A massive operation is on to flush out the remaining holed-up terrorists.
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
'Pakistan cannot sustain a war with India for more than four days. They are in such dire straits. At best they can sustain war for one week.'
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising said the case should be transferred to Chandigarh due to proximity to Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the incidents of obstruction of police personnel by lawyers of the local court.
The home minister will also review the preparation for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage set to start on June 29.
"The prime minister asked them to deploy the full spectrum of our counter-terror capabilities," an official source said.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Jammu and Kashmir is facing a severe water crisis this year due to a massive rainfall deficit. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed concern about the situation and called for a proactive approach towards water management and conservation. The state has witnessed an 80% deficit in rainfall this year, raising the possibility of drought in the valley this summer. Several water bodies are flowing below the zero level mark, and some springs in south Kashmir have dried up completely. The water level in Jhelum and other major streams is alarmingly low.
The operation at the Keran Sector in Kupwara is still underway, the Army said.
The Udhampur-based northern command is committed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army said on Tuesday, as it paid tribute to four soldiers who died in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists in Doda district.
To demand justice for the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir and the teenager in UP's Unnao, the Congress party led a candelight vigil to India Gate in New Delhi.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
The matter was deliberately hyped, Gupta added. The case is in court, which will decide on it, he said.
Forest Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash had attended the rally.
The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.
Five army personnel were killed and six injured on Monday when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.
'There are communal overtones in the chargesheet.' 'Hindus and Muslims live peacefully in Jammu and by highlighting such facts in the chargesheet they are committing a conspiracy against Jammu.' The reason: A Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder case (see box below) and the deportation of Rohingya immigrants. Speaking to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf, B S Salathia, Jammu Bar Association explains their call for a bandh and the communal divide it has brought about in Jammu.
Reliance on technical intelligence has not been fruitful as terrorists use online activity to mislead authorities. Officials feel that there is an urgent need for heightened surveillance to counter foreign terrorists, especially in the Jammu region.
Showbiz celebrities and others are speaking up for the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and killed in Kathua three months ago. An enraged nation demanded "exemplary punishment" for the culprits of the crime, even as the politics over the arrest of eight people in connection with the case continued to dominate the discourse in this city of temples. While Thursday saw Farhan Akhtar, Riteish Deshmukh, Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan fire off tweets condemning the incident, female artistes took the torch on Friday. Actresses Swara Bhasker, Kalki Koechlin, Huma Qureshi and Gul Panag were among many who posted pictures of themselves as 'Hindustan', ashamed at the incidents.
The signatories to the letter include scholars from universities across the globe including the New York University, the Brown University, the Harvard, the Columbia and prominent IITs.
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
Prominent names such as Kamal Hassan, Supriya Sule and Omar Abdullah condemned the Kathua rape and asked the PM to speak up.
Addressing the sixth convocation at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, the chief minister said the heinous act of the perpetrators "has shocked us as a society" and showed that the value system was facing a crisis.
Santosh Gangwar said that a hue and cry should not be created if one or two such incidents rake up in a big country like India.
The DGP, along with additional director general of police (law and order) Vijay Kumar and Jammu zone additional director general of police Anand Jain, visited Jammu-based White Knight Corps and interacted with General Officer Commanding Lt Gen Navin Sachdeva, the army said.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
The rape-and-murder of the eight-year-old Bakerwal community girl has created a controversy after lawyers in Jammu called for a shutdown on Wednesday, demanding the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
'It cannot go unpunished,' he said on Twitter.
The support for the eight-year-old girl was growing with politicians, cutting across party lines, seeking justice for her.
'We cannot endanger our national security by indulging in false bravado, fake narratives and high-decibel whitewashing. As a nation, we have to collectively fight the scourge of cross-border terrorism'
"The charge that the two ministers were pro-rapist is absolutely wrong. It was sheer indiscretion on their part," Madhav said.
The president said he was hopeful that "all among us will fulfill the responsibility of securing our girl child".
The recent terror acts are a sign of our enemy's desperation, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
The encounter took place when the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late Monday evening, the officials said.
It asked that even in cases where the victim had died, 'why should there be disclosure of name'.
'Hinduism is the mother of all religions; communal hatred should not be spread in its name.'
Surendra Singh said that children should not be given undue freedom and asked parents not to give mobile phones to them.
The incident comes days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had assured the safety of all migrant workers in the southern state.
A policeman was also injured in the gunfight that broke out in Bajaad village in the Gandoh area around 9:50 am.
