Eleven killed as avalanches strike parts of Kashmir Valley

At least 11 people have died in snow avalanches across Jammu and Kashmir in the last 24-hours, including seven in a massive one that buried a police post near Jawahar Tunnel in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said on Friday. Two more were crushed in landslides on the Ramban highway, while one person drowned. Ten people, eight of them police personnel, were buried under snow on Thursday evening by the avalanche. Two were rescued alive on Friday morning while the bodies of five policemen and two others were recovered. One…

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Scores injured in pellet firing during CASO in Kulgam, 3 Power transformers set ablaze by forces

Eight people suffered pellet injuries and forces allegedly set ablaze two electricity transformers after local residents resisted a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) at Tarigam, Kulgam, on Monday. Police, Army and Central Reserve Police Force jointly launched the operation after specific inputs about the presence of militants, an official said. Reports said that youth took to streets after the CASO was launched. “Local youth resorted to stone-pelting to disrupt the CASO. Forces resorted to teargas shelling and pellet firing,” said a local, Tariq Ahmed. Eight youth sustained pellet injuries and were shifted to…

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‘Chillai Kalan’ 40 day harsh winter begins in Kashmir

Amid biting cold, the 40-day-long period of harsh winter ‘Chillai Kalan’ began in the Valley. The ‘Chillai Kalan’ sets each year on December 21 and ends on January 30. The ‘Chillai Kalan’ is the harshest period of winter in the Valley and is followed by 20-day long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and 10-day long ‘Chillai Bachha’ (baby cold). Last year, Valley did not experience any snowfall during the 40-day period of Chillai Kalan. The Meteorological Department has predicted that the first 10 days of Chillai Kalan this year would remain dry.…

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‘Kill Us All’ Joint Resistance Leadership’s march to army HQs foiled

Kashmir Observes Shutdown On 3rd Running Day Against Seven Civilian killings In Pulwama; Geelani’s House Sealed Of, Mirwaiz, Malik Detained; Internet Remains Shut Authorities imposed curbs to thwart a protest march called by joint resistance leadership to Badamibagh, housing the headquarters of army’s 15 corps, even as protest shutdown against the killing of seven civilians in Pulwama on weekend continued for the third running day on Monday. The JRL comprising Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and besides JKLF headed by Yasin Malik had…

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Army asks people not to march towards its HQ on Separatists Call

The army on Sunday asked people not to march towards its Srinagar headquarters on Monday on the call of separatists as the Kashmir Valley witnessed complete shutdown on Sunday to protest the killing of seven civilians at Sirnoo village in Pulwama district. All shops and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. The train service between Baramulla and Banihal was also suspended. Restrictions were imposed in Pulwama and its adjoining areas, mobile internet snapped in south and central Kashmir while internet speed was slowed down in other parts…

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Kashmir Valley experiences Arctic conditions, Drass coldest at -19.7°C

Most places in the Kashmir division experienced season’s coldest night on Friday, even as the mercury continued its downward spiral in the Valley and the Ladakh region, MET officials said. The minimum temperature across Kashmir, barring Pahalgam, dropped due to a clear sky last night, they said. The officials said Kargil town recorded a low of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius. Drass in Kargil district had a low of minus 19.7 degrees Celsius and was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir. Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.…

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At -9.7°C, Pahalgam sees record cold night, One-way traffic allowed on National Highway

As the cold wave tightened its grip over the Kashmir valley, a famous tourist resort in south Kashmir recorded its coldest December night of the decade as the minimum temperature there plummeted nearly 10 degrees below the freezing point. An official of the Srinagar Meteorological Centre said the overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam resort, a tourist spot in south Kashmir famous for its picturesque landscape of meadows and a roaring stream, was recorded at -9.7° Celsius. The overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam was the lowest in more than a decade…

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Death of two teenaged militants raises some difficult questions across Kashmir Valley

On August 30, three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed in Parray Mohalla in Hajin, a town in the North Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The next day, two boys who lived in the area went missing. Until then, very few in the area had known about the friendship of Saqib Bilal Sheikh, 16, and Mudasir Rashid Parray, 15. They had little in common. They studied in different classes in different schools. Saqib Bilal belonged to an affluent farming family. Mudasir lived in a makeshift hut. In his free time, Saqib would usually slip…

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Thousands throng funeral for ‘Youngest’ rebel killed in Kashmir

Thousands of mourners thronged the funeral on Monday of a 14-year-old rebel shot dead by Indian troops in Kashmir, the youngest-ever fighter killed in the decades-long insurgency, police said. Mudasir Ahmad Parrey was killed alongside two other militants, one a 17-year-old, outside the city of Srinagar on Sunday. Parrey, a ninth-grade student, went missing in August before emerging in a photograph on social media brandishing an automatic assault rifle and military knife. The young militants’ deaths sparked angry protests in the restive Himalayan region administered by India but also claimed…

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On World Human Rights Day JRL calls for Shutdown across Kashmir Valley

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising both factions of Hurriyat Conference led respectively by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq besides JKLF headed by Muhammad Yasin Malik has called for complete protest strike on December 10, Monday, to highlight the “gruesome human rights situation”. The leadership said people through shutdown will also register their regret at the apathy of international community and rights organisations towards the plight of the people of Kashmir. A JRL statement issued said that on the eve of world human rights day on December 10,…

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