Many people in Jammu have stopped rallying around the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, saying protests organised by it have already cost them too much economically and now it is meddling in their social affairs as well.
Lakhs of people offered special prayers on Eid-ul-fitr at Eidgahs across Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, where the festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramzan was celebrated with traditional gaiety and fervour a day ahead of rest of the country.
Seven militants, six of them foreigners, and an army jawan were killed and twelve others including eight civilians injured in three separate encounters across the valley in Jammu and Kashmir, police said in Srinagar on Saturday.
Jammu city and adjoining districts on Monday returned to normal life as market places opened and traffic plied on roads, 64 days after being hit by the Amarnath land row.
Normal life remained badly affected on Friday as shops and market places were closed and vehicles off the roads in response to a bandh over the Amarnath land transfer issue.
A high alert was sounded in the city on Thursday with authorities suspecting the presence of more militants here after three infiltrators were killed by security forces during a 19-hour hostage drama.
The children - Sheetal (9), Vipin (2), Ashad (7) and Kajal (4) - said they were scared and were very happy that they have been rescued.
Army's Special Forces shot dead the last of the three suspected LeT militants early Thursday and freed seven hostages including four children they seized in a house near Jammu.
Three militants, holed up inside a house near Jammu, were killed in a daylong fierce gun battle with security forces on Wednesday but the fate of seven hostages including four children was not immediately known, officials said.
Five police personnel, including SSP Manmohan Singh, and seven protestors were injured.
The first round of talks between the organisation leading an agitation for the past two months on the Amarnath land row and a government panel to resolve the issue concluded on an optimistic note.
Talks began in Jammu early on Saturday between the organisation leading an agitation for the past two months on the Amarnath land row and a government panel to find a solution to the contentious issue.
Reviving their strike call, separatists leaders on Thursday asked people to observe a complete shutdown in the Kashmir valley for three days in the wake of the Amarnath land row.
Protesters on Thursday set afire four vehicles, attacked a government office and a senior Congress leader's vehicle and looted some 100 bags of wheat from a ration depot in Jammu region which remained on the edge over the Amarnath land transfer row.
Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Mangat Ram Sharma had a narrow escape when angry protesters attacked him amid violent protests after curfew in Jammu was relaxed on Thursday.
The territorial integrity of the country is not something to be trifled with. If you let Kashmir go, that's the signal for other states and disaffected groups within India to ask for the same thing.
A resolution to the simmering Amarnath land row seems in sight with the organisation spearheading the agitation expressing its willingness for talks with the government.
The curfew was re-clamped in Jammu district on Wednesday after 40 people were injured in clashes late on Tuesday night as the Kashmir valley remained calm for a second straight day after weeks of protests.
At least 50 people, including a dozen policemen, were injured in the clashes between the police and stone throwing mobs in several parts of Jammu city and the border town of Akhnoor.- With improvement in situation, curfew was relaxed for varying periods in Jammu, Samba, Udhampur and Kishtwar districts in Jammu region on Tuesday.
Independence Day celebrations passed off peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, with Governor N N Vohra taking the salute at the main function at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar.
Curfew was on Friday lifted from the entire Kashmir Valley, following improvement in situation in all the 10 districts, four days after it was clamped following violence sparked by the Amarnath land transfer row.- Curfew remained imposed for the second day Tuesday in Srinagar district in Jammu and Kashmir with no untoward incident being reported so far from anywhere in the Valley.
Asserting that communal harmony will not be allowed to be disturbed, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Sunday said the Amarnath land row will be resolved in a manner that its does not hurt either people of Jammu or Kashmir regions.
In a dramatic turnaround, the Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday agreed to hold talks with a visiting all-party delegation after three Kashmiri leaders agreed not to be present during the parleys aimed at solving the Amarnath land row.
