Radical Islamist networks are deliberately targeting Muslim youths embedded within the country's professional and academic ecosystems, leveraging their skills, mobility, and digital reach to quietly strengthen operational capabilities. This trend highlights a dangerous evolution in terror recruitment -- one that exploits ideological faultlines, online echo chambers and transnational radical Islamist influences to attract individuals who outwardly embody India's modern and aspirational narrative, points out Dr Kanchan Lakshman.
Curfew was reimposed in Shopian town of south Kashmir on Thursday following death of a youth in firing by security forces that took the death toll in the area to five since Saturday.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha claims a significant reduction in the fear of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley, citing increased industrial activity in Pulwama and a decline in local terror recruitment.
Heavy rains battered Jammu and Kashmir, triggering floods, damaging infrastructure, and disrupting normal life. Authorities issued advisories and rescue operations were conducted.
Security forces have intensified anti-terror operations after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, eliminating six hardcore terrorists in the past three days in Kashmir.
The area has been cordoned off and a hunt launched to nab the attackers.
Written in Urdu, the posters sought the help of the people in tracing the terrorists, saying "those who killed the innocents do not have a place in our country".
Three Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, the police said.
Bookstore owners were cautioned against keeping or distributing the books. Police personnel briefed the bookstore owners about the legal consequences of violating the ban.
Authorities in Kashmir have launched a massive crackdown on terrorists and their sympathisers in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, razing homes of the ultras, raiding their safe havens and detaining hundreds of overground workers for questioning, officials said on Saturday.
Acting on a specific input about the presence of terrorists in the Amshipora area of Shopian in south Kashmir, the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation, a police official said.
Three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants were killed in the Drach area of Shopian, while a Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant was killed in the Moolu area of the south Kashmir district, the police said.
Security forces launched a cordon and search operation after receiving specific intelligence about the presence of terrorists in Zainpora area of Shopian, they said.
Puran Krishan was attacked near his residence in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir district, they said, adding that doctors declared Krishan brought dead after he was shifted to Shopian hospital.
Later, the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the probe and found that the two women were never raped or murdered.
'A man with a gun commanded respect. I thought if I also got a gun, I could save my family. With this thought, I went to Pakistan and got training there'
Shopian which has been in the news for last three months after the rape and murder of two young women, was on the boil yet again on Thursday. The trouble in the town, 65 kms from Srinagar erupted following clashes between groups of youth and police on Thursday morning.
While a verified Twitter handle of the Information and Public Relations department of Shopian claimed that the news about leaving of 'Kashmiri non-migrant Hindu population' was 'baseless', Ashwani Kumar Bhat, whose brother Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on October 16, told reporters in Jammu that he has migrated and will never return to the Valley.
Days after the Pahalgam terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir authorities have deported 59 Pakistani nationals, including the mother of Shaurya Chakra awardee Constable Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh. The Pakistani nationals were living in the valley for decades and were transported to Punjab for repatriation. However, the mother of the deceased soldier was later allowed to stay back. The deportation comes after the Indian government announced a slew of measures against Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the downgrading of diplomatic relations.
Ishfaq Dar alias Abu Akram, was not only responsible for attacks on security forces, but also for civilian killings, police said.
Inspector general of police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the slain ultras were members of proscribed terror outfit LeT.
Bhat's wife and the two children were in a state of shock as relatives and neighbours, who rushed there, were seen consoling them.
In a major breakthrough, security forces killed Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Vilayat Hussain Lone in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Monday, taking the death toll of the ultras in the three-day operation to two.
The gunned-down terrorists have been identified as Abid Wagay, a resident of Rawalpora Shopian, and Shahjahan Mir, hailing of Amshepora Shopian, a police spokesman said.
Suspected militants fired grenade and opened fire at a police camp in Shopian township of South Kashmir on Tuesday killing a police officer and injuring three others, making it a major offensive in the town that had just returned to normalcy after weeks of unrest following the alleged rape and murder of two women in May.
The hiding terrorists opened fire at the security forces, who retaliated, triggering a gun battle.
Security forces launched a search operation at Sugan village in Zainapora Tuesday evening following information about the presence of terrorists.
A police spokesperson said two of the four recent cases of target killings in Srinagar and Bandipora have been solved with the elimination of the terrorists involved in these incidents.
Two AK rifles and one INSAS rifle have been recovered from the spot.
Relatives of the three youths, belonging to Dhar Sakri village in Kotranka of Rajouri area in Poonch, had lodged a written missing persons report in the local police station after they lost contact with them on July 17. The three were working as labourers in apple and walnut orchards in Amshipura.
Police on Saturday detained Opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti as she was heading towards Shopian district where four persons were killed in CRPF firing last week.
The three youths, Mohammad Imtiyaz and Ibrar Ahmed, residents of Kathuni mohalla of Dharsakri village of Rajouri, and Mohammad Ibrar, a resident of Tarkassi village of Rajouri, had left their homes on the pretext of working as labourers in Shopian and went out of contact with their families on July 17.
A terrorist who involved in a firing incident on Wednesday night has been killed in an encounter with security forces in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said on Thursday.
A large number of civilians rushed towards the encounter site at Kundullan and started pelting stones at security personnel.
Curfew remained in force for the second day on Monday in parts of Shopian district in south Kashmir following killing of four persons in a firing incident on Saturday.
The official said five civilians received bullet injuries in the cross-firing near the gunfight site.
The army has begun its probe and recorded statements in connection with last month's encounter in Shopian area of South Kashmir after families in Rajouri area of Jammu region filed a complaint with the Jammu and Kashmir police about its members missing from the same region.
The PDP and the NC condemned the killing of the special police officer.
The army said on Friday it has completed the Summary of Evidence against two of its men involved in July's Amshipura encounter in Shopian district.
A civilian was killed in a firing incident at Ganowpora, while two others sustained injuries, a police official said.
