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.
General Kapoor, who arrived in Srinagar on Friday for a three-day visit to the state, inaugurated a boys' hostel in the frontier town of Tangdhar. General Kapoor said, "The passes are still closed because of heavy snowfall, and it is too early to comment on the levels of infiltration this year." He said that the army's role during the forthcoming state assembly elections in the state would be "limited to providing a secure atmosphere."
A shutdown called by the hardline separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) against the alleged molestation and murder of a college girl in north Kashmir Kupwara district once again crippled normal life across the valley on Friday.
Ten persons including a senior army officer, three troopers and six militants have been killed so far in the ongoing three day long fierce encounters in the Shamswari mountain range of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Six militants, including a Pakistani infiltrator and a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, were among 10 people killed in Jammu and Kashmir where police arrested six youths being herded to Pakistan for arms training since Sunday night, a police spokesman said
Army troops guarding the border noticed a group of heavenly-armed terrorists trying to infiltrate into this side of the LoC in Machhil sector, 140 km from Srinagar. The gunfight broke out after the troopers challenged the infiltrators, the spokesman said.
Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma on Monday visited the Tangdhar sector of the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Three militants of Lashkar-e-Tayiba outfit were killed in an ongoing search operation in the Handwara area of north Kashmir Kupwara district.
"The infiltrators were challenged to surrender after they were surrounded upon which they opened fire at the troops leading to an encounter, which has now ended. All the three infiltrators were killed," Lt Col J S Brar told rediff.com.
A junior commissioned officer of the army was killed and two troopers were wounded in a fierce gunfight with a group of infiltrating militants in Shamsnag area on the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday.
Five militants and an army trooper were killed and four others wounded in an encounter in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. The gunfight erupted early on Friday after troops of counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles and the police jointly surrounded a house, acting on a specific tip-off about the presence of a group of militant commanders inside it. "The operation is over. We have recovered the bodies of the militants," said a spokesperson.
Four militants, including three of Hizbul Mujahideen, were on Monday killed in two gunfights during search operations in the Kashmir valley, officials said.
Two army jawans have been killed while foiling an infiltration bid by terrorists from across the border in Keran sector of North Kashmir's Kupwara district, a defence spokesman said on Monday. Another gunbattle is on in Pulwama district of South Kashmir
A 24-year-old man was seriously injured on Sunday after an automatic weapon of a paramilitary trooper got accidentally fired in the border village of Trehgam in north Kashmir Kupwara district.
The spokesman said the bodies of the deceased soldiers were recovered by rescue teams, which swung into action immediately after the avalanche struck the post.
In its 'Inquiry Report of Unmarked Graves in North Kashmir', the SHRC states that the unidentified bodies had been buried in 38 sites in north Kashmir's Baramulla, Bandipora, Handwara and Kupwara districts.
He said one civilian, Waseem Ahmad Mir, also sustained bullet injury 'in the nearby area' and later succumbed at a hospital on Friday.
A driver by profession and a resident of Thandipora, was injured in a firing incident in the Thandipora area of Kupwara on Saturday.
Shah, 34, was working with the Jammu and Kashmir Police as a Special Police Officer and had been given an out-of-turn promotion and selected as a constable.
Eight persons -- two troopers and six militants -- were killed in the Tangdhar sector of the Line of Control in north Kashmir Kupwara district on Saturday when army troops challenged a group of heavily-armed infiltrators.
Curfew remained clamped in parts of Srinagar, Kupwara and Kralpora towns and restrictions were imposed on the movement of people in Hyderpora and Budgam towns on Monday in view of a shutdown call by separatists across Kashmir Valley.In Srinagar, curfew was imposed in seven police station areas of Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal, M R Gunj, Bemina and Qammerwari, said the police.They said curfew will remain in force in Kupwara and Kralpora towns of north Kashmir.
Sources in the army told PTI that training in GPS equipment have been made mandatory for terrorists operating on the other side of the LoC.
The bus was part of an army convoy moving from the frontier Chowkibal area in the north Kashmir Kupwara district to capital Srinagar. A defence spokesman in Srinagar said nine army troopers died on the spot, while more than 14 injured were shifted to hospital.
The death toll in the fierce gun battles between holed up militants and army troops in the Shamsbhari mountain range in north Kashmir's Kupwara district has gone upto 19, according to a defence spokesman in Srinagar.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
Four army men, including a Major, and an equal number of militants were on Tuesday killed while eight other security personnel and a civilian were injured in two separate encounters in Kashmir, officials said.
'No matter how much you get paid or how successful you get, nothing can match the fauj.'
The encounter has brought to light gaps in the Army's vigil along the LoC as the group of terrorists had managed to sneak in nearly 8 km after crossing two ridges of the Shamsabari mountain range.
A senior police officer said troops of counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles and police jointly surrounded a forest area near Lolab in frontier Kupwara district early on Thursday.
A mob attacked a police post at Hatmulla in north Kashmir's Kupwara district this afternoon following which the security personnel retaliated.
AMU spokesman Shafay Kidwai said that show cause notices have been issued to nine students for trying to hold an unauthorised gathering Thursday.
The slain militants are yet to be identified.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the decision to transform Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory is 'temporary' and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will restore the statehood to the region.
A defence spokesman said that a group of terrorists tried to infiltrate from across the LoC in Keran.
Strict restrictions have been imposed in Kupwara town, Kralgund, Handwara, Magam and Langate areas in north Kashmir to maintain law and order.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire yet again in the Chakan-de-Bagh sector of the Line of Control in Poonch district Monday.
Acting on specific input about the presence of terrorists in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of Baramulla district in north Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there early Thursday morning, a police official said.