Several hotels in Kashmir’s iconic Pahalgam were inundated due to flash floods triggered by two cloudbursts in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Saturday night that also damaged homes, roads and farmland, disrupted essential services and prompted the evacuation of tourists and pilgrims, officials said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday called for a fundamental shift in Jammu and Kashmir tourism policy, advocating a transition from volume-driven tourism to a sustainable, value-based model that protects the region's fragile ecology while ensuring long-term economic growth.
A top commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Zakir Ganai, was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Shopian district on Wednesday, marking a major breakthrough in an intelligence-based operation.
Taking cognizance of alleged irregularities in on-spot registration of Amarnath pilgrims, the authorities in Kashmir's Ganderbal district suspended four teachers, officials said on Wednesday.
Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday called for keeping the Amarnath Yatra free from politics, saying Kashmir has a long tradition of hospitality towards pilgrims while urging the administration to ensure both pilgrims' safety and minimal disruption to local life.
The visuals underline the sheer intensity of the avalanche and the speed at which it struck the area.
Mirwaiz, who said he was not allowed to go to the Jama Masjid in Srinagar to deliver the Friday sermon, wrote: “That is why wars are paused, not ended, and dialogue finds no takers.”
India has quietly crossed a scientific threshold in its northernmost region. At a state agricultural university in Kashmir, researchers have successfully developed the country's first gene-edited sheep - an animal that has now completed a year of monitored growth with normal health indicators and improved muscle development.
The minister said that the Modi government has taken decisive and sustained action against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir over the past eleven years, resulting in a significant decline in terror incidents, stone-pelting and targeted killings.
Police said on Friday that on Thursday, a fisherman identified as Nazir Ahmad Latoo, a resident of Shaltang/Zogyar, reported to Police Station Sheeri, Baramulla, that he had recovered a stone sculpture while fishing in the River Jhelum.
