Jammu and Kashmir

The tourism industry had taken a severe hit after a Pakistan sponsored insurgency broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. It shattered the tourism sector as the number of tourists visiting Kashmir declined drastically. Kashmir until 1988, with over 700,000 arrivals was one of the most preferred destinations for the national and international tourists.

"Under the Prime Minister's Development Package (PMDP), 5,502 Kashmiri Pandits have been provided government jobs in different departments of Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir in the valley," said Rai in a written reply.

Rubaiya Sayeed, listed as the witness for the prosecution, appeared before the CBI court here and identified Yasin Malik and three other accused as her abductors. Rubaiya Sayeed was abducted in 1989 and her release was managed by swapping four jailed militant commanders when her father was then the Home Minister in the V.P. Singh government.

Before the flash flood triggered by heavy localised rain hit the tented area on Friday evening, over 1.13 lakh pilgrims had Darshan inside the holy cave. "Flash flood debris has already been cleared and this time the track is being restored. Yatra was restored today after remaining suspended for 2 days", officials said.  Yatris were initially allowed to move towards the cave shrine on the traditional Pahalgam-Cave shrine route on Monday.

Shah termed the "Statue of Peace" in Kashmir a very auspicious sign for the entire country, especially J&K. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has established decisive supremacy on terror in Kashmir. He has taken development to the people of Kashmir without any discrimination," Shah said in his speech.

Teams of NDRF, SDRF, BSF, CRPF, Army, police and ITBP resumed rescue operation with the first light on Saturday morning, officials said. Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Ganderbal district, Afroza Shah has told reporters that 15 people have died and over 40 injured in Friday's flash flood triggered by the cloudburst. She said five people were rescued alive from the debris of the flash flood.

The Border Security Force (BSF) said alert BSF troops noticed suspicious movement across the fence in the general area of Border Outpost (BOP) Baquarpur. "Our domination party at night noticed a person coming from the Pak side aggressively towards the fence with an intention to cross the fence. Our party challenged him to stop, but he paid no attention to it and continued his movement towards the fence," BSF said.

In a tweet, the J&K Police said that Farooq Ahmed Mir's body was found in paddy fields near his home in Samboora village. "Preliminary investigation reveals that he had left his home for work in his paddy fields yesterday (Friday) in the evening, where he was shot dead by the militants using a pistol," said the tweet. Sources said that two pistol cartridges were also found at the incident spot.

Police said acting on specific information regarding presence of terrorists in village Kanji Ullar area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by police, the army and, the CRPF. During the search operation, as the joint party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively. leading to an encounter.

"Two terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT neutralised by Srinagar Police in a swift encounter in Bemina area of Srinagar. One policeman also received minor injury," Jammu and Kashmir Police quoting Inspector General Police Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar tweeted. The encounter started after security forces got a tip off about the presence of terrorists in that area.