Twelve killed, over 20 injured as bus falls into ravine in AJK

MUZAFFARABAD: At least 12 people were killed and over 20 others were injured Monday when a speeding bus fell into a ravine in Azad Kashmir’s Mirpur area, DawnNews reported.

The bus carrying passengers from Bhimber was travelling to Samahni when the driver lost control at Poona due to speeding. As a result, the bus fell into a ravine.

On receiving information, police and rescue team personnel reached the site of incident and retrieved the dead bodies and injured persons out of the bus with the assistance of locals present in the area.

Supreme court asks J&K chief secretary to file affidavit on Kishtwar clashes

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to file a detailed affidavit on the communal clashes in Kishtwar district and subsequent steps taken by the state government to control the situation.

The apex court directed the chief secretary to file the affidavit by August 21 on a PIL seeking direction to the government to provide safe passage to the pilgrims stranded there due to curfew in Kishtwar to enable them to return home.

Defence Minister will not apologise for statement, says government

New Delhi: The government has said that Defence Minister AK Antony's controversial statement in Parliament yesterday on the killing of five Indian soldiers in Kashmir was based on facts and that he would not issue an apology for it.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said today, "What the defence minister said was very carefully calibrated and is final, is based on Army's facts," adding, "There is no question of the defence minister apologising." (Track live updates)

Security forces kill top JeM commander Qari Yasir in shootout

Srinagar: Security forces in Kashmir today killed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) top commander, Qari Yasir, in an shootout in the wee hours of morning in north Kashmir’s Lolab area.

Yasir was gunned down by security forces at a village in Kupwara district, police said.

Yasir had been the JeM chief in Kashmir for the last three years, Abdul Ghani Mir, Inspector General of Police, told Firstpost.

Six killed in BSF firing at Jammu protest over mosque entry

Jammu: Six people were killed when the BSF fired at protestors outside their camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district today. Several people were also injured in the incident.

Ramban is 151 km from the state's winter capital Jammu. Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo, who was rushing to the spot along with DGP Ashok Prasad, confirmed the death of four persons. He said a large number of people have been injured and rushed to different hospitals.

Six injured in grenade attack on police vehicle in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: Four policemen and an undertrial were among six persons injured on Wednesday in a grenade attack by militants on a police vehicle in Batamaloo area of the city.

Militants lobbed a grenade on a police vehicle carrying an undertrial at busy Batamaloo bus stand around noon, police said.

The grenade landed and exploded inside the vehicle, resulting in injuries to four policemen and the undertrial Shakeel Ahmad Khatana, police said.

Around 300 militants across Line of Control ready for infiltration in Jammu, says Army

Jammu: Pakistan-based militant groups have intensified their infiltration attempts along the border and around 300 militants continue to be active on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), just along the Jammu region, the Army today said.

However all those infiltration attempts have been successfully foiled by the troops at the border, General officer commanding (GoC) 16 corps Lieutenant General DS Hooda said, while giving out the figures.
He said the militants are now changing the tactics and targeting Army posts at the LoC in a desperate bid to carry out infiltration.

Protesters set Army school on fire in Bandipora

Protesters today tried to set an Army school on fire in Kashmir's Bandipora district, which has seen massive protests since yesterday over the death of two young men in Army firing.  There have also been protests in other parts of Kashmir and separatists have forced a shutdown in the Valley with a bandh call today.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police said a small fire broke out inside the Army-run Goodwill School in Hajan but fire tenders managed to douse the flames. The protesters also smashed windows and furniture in the school.

Bandipora erupts after 2 youths killed in firing

SRINAGAR: With Srinagar staggering under successive terrorist assaults, things turned for the worse on Sunday when Sumbal in Bandipora erupted in massive protests after two youth were killed in firing by security personnel on a combing mission.

Irfan Ahmad Gania, 18, and Irshad Ahmad Dar, 25, were, according to their parents, attending a wedding at Markundal village in Sumbal, at 4am when they were killed by the security forces. However, Rashtriya Rifles said its jawans acting on specific intelligence inputs about presence of terrorists, had cordoned off the area, when there was a burst of gunfire from a house beyond the sanitised area.

Policeman killed, two injured in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir

A policeman was killed and two other security personnel were injured in an encounter with militants in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Monday.

The encounter took place at Tral during a counter-insurgency operation launched by the security forces following information about the presence of militants in the area, a police spokesman said.

PM, Sonia flag off train connecting Banihal in Jammu and Qazigund in Kashmir

BANIHAL, J&K: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday flagged off the first train connecting Banihal in Jammu region with Qazigund in Kashmir Valley.

The newly constructed station here, 125 km from summer capital Srinagar, was decked up with flowers and garlands to receive the VVIPs for flagging off the first train which will pass through 11 km tunnel through Pir Panchal range.

The eight-coach train carrying school children and officials of IRCON and Railways reached Qazigund in 25 minutes.

Government facilitating settlement of Pakistanis in state: Panun Kashmir

The Panun Kashmir (PK), a frontal organisation of displaced Kashmiri Hindus, today alleged that the Omar Abdullah government was facilitating the settlement of Pakistani nationals in the state in the name of “rehabilitating former terrorists who illegally crossed over to Pakistan for arms training in the 1990s”.

Members of the organisation alleged that the Central government was allowing violation of national and international laws and Pakistani nationals, mostly wives and children of terrorists, were illegally travelling from Nepal to Jammu and Kashmir to seek benefits from the government.

PK president Ashwani Kumar Chrangoo released a document prepared by the organisation, ‘Policy and procedure for return of ex-militants to Jammu and Kashmir state’, at a press conference here. He said the rehabilitation policy announced by the Omar-led government was openly against the interests of the country.

Geelani Invited For Birmingham Conference

SRINAGAR: Chairman Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani has been invited to participate in a Kashmir related international conference on 27th May in Birmingham.

The dignitaries affiliated to NGO, eminent political leaders and ambassadors from different countries are schedule to attend the said conference, a Hurriyat G spokesman said.

Syed Ali Geelani while accepting the invitation, has agreed to attend the said summit.

Two women commit suicide in Kupwara

Srinagar, Apr 12 (PTI) In two separate incidents, a woman and a 17-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide in Kupwara district, police said today.

The girl consumed some poisonous substance at her home in Haril-Handwara area of Kupwara yesterday.

She was rushed to the district hospital in Handwara where she breathed her last, police said.

Doctors voice alarm at ‘non-lethal’ weapons in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Gasping for breath and confined to her bed, Bilqees Khan winces as she recalls the moment a pepper gas grenade exploded by her home during a curfew in Indian Kashmir’s summer capital.

“There was all this dark smoke and then I started to choke,” says the 56-year-old housewife. “It felt as if my chest was bleeding from the inside.”

The grenade exploded outside her house in the Urdu Bazaar neighbourhood of Srinagar as local security forces patrolled the streets after nightfall.

The smoke from the canister wafted into the family’s home, leading Bilqees — who has a history of heart problems — to collapse on the floor of her upstairs bedroom.

She was then rushed to hospital in a neighbour’s autorickshaw and spent the next few days fighting for her life on a respiratory support machine.

Indian atrocities can’t deter Kashmiris struggle: Majeed

KARACHI – Indian atrocities cannot deter the Kashmiris from their struggle for independence, Azad Jammu & Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said on Sunday, talking to the media after his visit to Idara-e-Noor Haq, where he met Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mahenti.

Majeed asserted that the entire Kashmiri leadership was untied on a one-point agenda of freedom. He urged the media to highlight the Kashmir issue internationally, saying leaderships of all the political and religious parties should keep the issue on top of their election manifestos.

The AJK premier also praised the efforts of the Jamaat-e-Islami for the Kashmir cause, saying the Jamaat leadership had always played a vital role in this respect.

Earlier, Majeed who was accompanied by a delegation of Kashmiri political, religious and Hurriyat leaders, offered prayer for the departed souls of former JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Naib Ameer Prof Ghafoor Ahmed. He also praised their efforts and struggle for the Kashmir issue.

Pass Hindu Shrines Bill in this session: Panun Kashmir to J&K govt

Panun Kashmir, an organisation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, on Thursday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to pass the Hindu Shrines Bill during the ongoing Budget session of the State Legislature.

“In the absence of any institutional mechanism for the preservation of the temples and shrines in Kashmir, the land mafia is free to indulge in the annexation of the said properties with impunity and without fear of law.

One BSF jawan killed in militant attack on convoy in Srinagar

Srinagar: A BSF jawan was killed and two others injured in a militant attack on their convoy in the outskirts of Srinagar today, police said.

The ultras opened fire on the convoy of 8th Battalion BSF near Chanapora bridge in the outskirts of Srinagar this morning, resulting in injuries to three constables, the police said.

Kashmir: The bigger picture: a setback for peace in the Valley

Yeh to bahut badi himakat hai (This is a huge blunder)' was the first reaction of a mainstream Kashmiri to the execution of Mohd Afzal Guru on February 9.

This was followed by a volley of questions: Whose decision was this? Whose agenda would it serve? Why now when not all these years? Has anyone bothered to consider what the repercussions might be on the always fragile peace in Kashmir? Does anyone care about Kashmir in Delhi?

Or, as Khalida Shah put it subsequently, Afzal Guru's hanging at a most inopportune time has delivered a huge setback to the painstaking process of normalisation. More philosophically, the Kashmiris might say that such is their luck that something always goes wrong when things look their best.

Fallout
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has had to bear the brunt of the Kashmiri ire over the hanging. It makes his position extremely vulnerable if not untenable. He had consistently argued against Guru's execution because of its ramifications and the difficult position he would be placed in.