Police inspector Masroor Ahmad Wani, who was critically injured when he was shot at by a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist while playing cricket in Srinagar in October, died at AIIMS, New Delhi, on Thursday. He leaves behind his wife, who is expecting their first child.
Parts of Srinagar remained under curfew for the third consecutive day with authorities apprehending trouble after the congregational Friday prayers.
The move comes after terrorists gunned down two labourers and critically wounded another one in Kulgam in South Kashmir on Sunday evening.
A total of 939 service medals, including 189 for gallantry, was announced by the Union government on Tuesday for personnel of various central and state police forces on the eve of Republic Day.
The incident took place at Tumchi Nowpora of Pulwama district in South Kashmir when the labourer, Mukesh Kumar, was in the market to buy some vegetables.
Protestors in various localities of Srinagar and other towns breached restrictions of curfew imposed by the authorities in the wee hours of Sunday, a day ahead of the sit-in dharna in the historic Lal Chowk called by the separatists. Early on Sunday morning, police vehicles fitted with loud speakers went around Srinagar and other towns announcing the imposition of curfew and asking people to stay indoors.
Police had to fire dozens of tear smoke shells in an attempt to disperse the stone-pelting students from S P College and the adjoining Women's College on M A Road, officials said.
The decision comes in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, besides another attempt to target a Central Reserve Police Force convoy with a car bomb on the highway near Banihal in Ramban district on March 30.
Abu Hanzala managed to escape after at least two other terrorists attacked the police escort team at SMHS Hospital, killing two cops.
Curfew remained in force in seven police station areas of the city as a precautionary measure for maintaining law and order.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The encounter broke out after three motorcycle-borne terrorists opened fire on CRPF personnel posted at a mobile checking unit in Shalteng in Parampora, officials said. The captured terrorist is Umar Fayyaz of the Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), he said.
"The incidents of targeting civilians in Kashmir since a few days are barbaric. Innocent people who are working for the society and have nothing to do with anyone are being targeted," the police chief said.
Two terrorists including a wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba ultra Salim Parray were killed in two encounters with security forces in Harwan area on the outskirts of the city on Monday, police said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
There were no curbs on the movement of people anywhere else in Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday said they have arrested five 'hybrid' terrorists of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Tayiba outfit, three of whom were allegedly involved in the killing of a sarpanch in Baramulla district last month.
Separatist leader Asiya Andrabi was arrested from her residence in Shoura, Srinagar on Friday for anti-national activities.
Curfew was re-imposed in Srinagar on Monday as another youth injured in last weeks firing succumbed in the hospital on Sunday night. A senior police officer said 20-year old Fida Nabi Lone, who had been critically wounded on August 3 in the Shelteng area of Srinagar died in the Soura Medical Institute on Sunday night despite best efforts of the doctors who had put him on the life-support system after a surgery.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
Director general of police Swain commended the security forces for their efforts in monitoring potential threats from external elements particularly "proxies of Pakistan" who intended to disrupt the democratic process.
Normal life remained disrupted in Kashmir for the 86th day following abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
'General Paddy was amongst the last line of generals who stood by his convictions and brooked no interference in matters which were his domain.' Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd) salutes his former chief who passed away on August 19.
Friday prayers have not been allowed at Jamia Masjid - the grand mosque of Kashmir in downtown (old city area) - for the past over two months now.
The accident took place at the Tungi-Morh in the Chowki Chora belt of the district, the officials said, adding that the bus rolled around 150 feet down into the gorge.
A militant ambush near the highway of Qazigund town in south Kashmir's Kulgam district left 4 Central Reserve Police Force troopers injured on Saturday evening.
Fresh clashes erupted on Sunday between security forces and protestors in Srinagar, after the killing of a youth in police firing sparked fresh tension in the Kashmir Valley. Police fired teargas shells and used batons to disperse stone-pelting mobs in Srinagar where authorities deployed police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel in strength to maintain law and order, officials said.
Curfew was imposed in Nowhatta, M R Gunj, Safakadal, Khanyar, Rainawari, Nigeen, Lal Bazaar, Zadibal and Parimpora police station areas on Wednesday after sectarian clashes broke out in Hawal area of the city.
Suspected terrorists hurled a grenade on Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Kawdara locality of Srinagar on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a 16-year-old boy, police said.
The statement comes after political leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, claimed they were put under house arrest.
'INDIA will easily cross 50 seats out of 90 in Jammu and Kashmir.'
Panic gripped Khanyar area of Srinagar on Sunday after an explosion was heard during an election rally of Union Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.
People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and several other regional party leaders on Monday claimed that they have been placed under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir S P Pani said while a Srinagar resident based in Pakistan had started an online campaign against the slain journalist, three Lashkar militants -- Jatt, Muzaffar Ahmad and Azad Malik carried out the killing.
Two militants were killed on Tuesday in an encounter with security forces on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, about 12 kms from Srinagar, in Pampore, police said.
Tension intensified in Srinagar on Friday after another schoolboy was killed near the famous Nishat Mughal garden on the outskirts of the city.Earlier, 13-year-old Wamik Farooq was killed in Srinagar on Sunday after he was hit by a teargas shell on his head at Rajouri Kadal in Srinagar, during a clash between a mob and the police.The school boy, Zahid Farooq Sheikh, 17, was shot in the chest. He was taken to the local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries today evening.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The 77th Independence Day was celebrated with a festive fervour across the country on Tuesday.
