Use of chilli-filled grenades as an alternative to pellet shotguns, which will be used in rarest of rare cases, was cleared on Saturday by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for crowd control ahead of the visit of an all-party delegation led by him to restive Kashmir on Sunday.
Ethnic insurgent groups in Manipur are modifying looted weapons into makeshift sniper rifles, increasing their range and lethality. Security forces have recovered hundreds of weapons in recent operations.
Out of these, eyesight of 40 patients has been restored while three have lost their eyesight.
However, the pellet guns will continue to be used as the last resort in the non-lethal category.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi made it clear that the government would come to the negotiating table only if the recognised parties participate in the dialogue and not the separatist elements.
The picture used by the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN was reported by a number of media outlets as that of Rawia Abu Joma'a, a 17-year-old girl injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza city in 2014. Rawia's picture was taken by award winning photographer Heidi Levine.
Three people were killed and scores of others, including around 20 security personnel and four personnel of the administration, were injured as protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh clashed with police on Sunday.
The Opposition parties also demanded stopping the use of pellet guns on protesters, even as one member demanded withdrawal of AFPSA from the Kashmir Valley and withdrawal of the dominating presence of army from civilian areas.
Days after rebuffing outreach attempt by a group of MPs, hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said that talks with New Delhi are bound to fail till the "gravity and intensity" of the Kashmir issue is agreed upon.
'The problem in Kashmir is not about pellets, bullets or tear gas.' 'It is the government's policy and intention to criminalise the protest.'
"Heart breaking & worrying in equal measure. At what point will the Centre (read Hon PM) wake up to the crisis here?" Omar wrote on Twitter.
With these deaths, the toll in the ongoing agitation in Kashmir has gone up to 78.
The youngest victim of pellet in Kashmir has been discharged from a Srinagar hospital after surgery on her right eye but doctors are not sure if her eyesight will be restored completely.
Pakistan played a 'key role' in fomenting the recent trouble in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said.
Ahead of the visit of an all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, political parties on Saturday pitched for holding dialogue with "all stakeholders", including Hurriyat, to douse the unrest and banning the use of pellet guns by security forces.
Carrying placards, the opposition members tried to disrupt the governor's address thrice.
Paulomi Tripathi, a junior most Indian diplomat at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations showed a picture of Lieutenant Umar Fayyaz, who was killed by terrorists.
The CRPF DG said that security forces are reaching out to young men, who have joined terror groups, through all possible ways to stop them from taking up arms.
Around 200 militants from across the border are trying to infiltrate into Kashmir, while some have already sneaked into the Valley and the number of encounters along the Line of Control has increased, a senior Border Security Force officer has said.
A man and his brother-in-law were killed and six others, including a pregnant woman, were injured when a person who works as a bank security guard opened fire on them from his double-barrel gun after an altercation over pet dogs in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh, the police said on Friday.
Officer Ryan Nash, 28, works in the New York Police Department's 1st precinct, shot and apprehended the suspect Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov
The bodies have been recovered from the encounter site where the search operation was still in progress
The MEA spokesperson said that New Delhi already received enough of trademark exports like 'international terrorism, cross-border infiltrators, weapons, narcotics and fake currency'.
She also underlined that 'black laws' like AFSPA would be repealed from the state only when the situation improves.
Farmers leaders taking part in the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation on Monday rejected the Centre's proposal of procuring pulses, maize and cotton at MSP by government agencies for five years, saying it was not in farmers' interest and announced that they will march towards the national capital on Wednesday.
Pakistan's parliament has unanimously passed a resolution, condemning the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Singh, who is on a four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, said that a permanent solution to Kashmir issue is based on five 'Cs' -- compassion, communication, coexistence, confidence building and consistency.
The teenager was injured in clashes between protesters and security forces in Harwan on Friday.
India's 70th Independence Day at the UN will feature A R Rahman, only the second Indian artist after M S Subbulakshmi to perform at the UN.
India has been mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General on Children and armed conflict since 2010 along with other countries of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Lake Chad basin, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Philippines for alleged recruitment and use of boys by armed groups in Jammu and Kashmir; detainment of boys by Indian security forces in J&K for their alleged association with armed groups, or on national security grounds.
Kashmiris are our own people," said HM Rajnath Singh in Rajya Sabha.
'I might have to compete in para category, but all that I will know when my injury report is made after four weeks," the shooter, who hails from Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh.'
In a bizarre incident, a national-level shooter recently lost his left thumb when the 10m air pistol cylinder he was filling exploded, at the Karni Singh Range.
A civilian was killed in a firing incident at Ganowpora, while two others sustained injuries, a police official said.
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents.
Normal life remained paralysed for the 42nd day in the Valley which has been rocked by violence after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.
Slamming the government over the situation in Kashmir, Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Monday pressed for holding an all-party meet to discuss the issue and pitched for a political solution rather than using "barrel of the gun" while dealing with the unrest.
Police on Tuesday detained separatist leaders Mohammad Yasin Malik and Masarat Alam Bhat at Awantipora when they were on their way to Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, where two suspected militants were killed in an army operation on Monday.
'Everyone has to take some step in solving this deadlock -- civil society, separatist leaders, the government.'
He regretted that whatever measures governments in the state and Centre should be taking for normalisation of situation were being taken by the opposition parties.
