Jammu and Kashmir to buy land to protect forests

October 6th, 2009 JAMMU - President Pratibha Patil will visit forward positions of the Indian Army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir Friday, an official said Tuesday. "She is visiting (LoC) to boost the morale of the soldiers guarding the most challenging terrain," an army official told IANS.

September 19th, 2009 JAMMU - A senior commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed in a gun battle with security forces in the mountainous district of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir Saturday, authorities said. Noor Mohammad aka Chhota Hamza was killed in the gun battle in Dessa forests in Doda, 180 km north-east of Jammu.

September 7th, 2009 JAMMU - At least 15 people were killed and many others were missing when a bus in which they were travelling skidded off the road and fell into river Chenab in the mountainous Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir Monday afternoon, officials said. According to reports reaching here, the bus was on its way to Jammu from Doda when it skidded off the road and rolled down into the Chenab river at Assar, about 150 km north-east of Jammu.

August 17th, 2009 JAMMU - Concerned over the growing trend of private colonisers buying agricultural land for building housing colonies, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have asked revenue officials not to allow sale of such land any longer. This decision supersedes an earlier decision, which permitted farmers to sell up to four kanals or half an acre of agricultural land.

June 10th, 2009 JAMMU - Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad arrived here Wednesday to a rousing reception during his first visit to his home state Jammu and Kashmir after his induction in the central government. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was received by over 5,000 supporters who had come here from various parts of Jammu district.

May 16th, 2009 JAMMU - Counting of votes cast for the Lok Sabha elections began amid heavy security in Jammu and Kashmir Saturday morning, poll officials said. The counting began at 8 a.m.

May 4th, 2009 JAMMU - At least 20 people were killed and 10 injured when the mini bus they were travelling in fell into the Chenab river in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir Monday morning, police said. The accident occurred at about 9 a.m.

April 2nd, 2009 JAMMU - The Jammu and Kashmir government will move April 24 from this winter capital to the state's summer capital Srinagar, where the offices will open May 4. The practice of shifting the Jammu and Kashmir capital, called 'darbar move', continues since the Dogra rule started it some 135 years ago.

March 28th, 2009 JAMMU - A migrant Kashmiri Hindus' group Sunday said it would field candidates from two of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. The Jammu Kashmir National United Front, a political party founded by and for the Kashmiri Pandits - Hindus who have always been seen as a political elite in the Muslim majority state - will field its candidates in their original home, the Kashmir Valley.

March 28th, 2009 JAMMU - Army troops Saturday recovered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) in a forest area of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said. The three-kg bomb was recovered in jungles of Thanna Mandi in Rajouri district, about 200 km northwest of Jammu, said a defence spokesman.

March 28th, 2009 JAMMU - A Pakistani refugee will be contesting Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate in Jammu and Kashmir, a first in the post-Independence history of the state. Labba Ram, chairman of West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee, filed his nominations for Jammu-Poonch parliamentary seat Saturday.

March 5th, 2009 JAMMU - Jammu and Kashmir's ruling coalition partners National Conference (NC) and Congress are likely to share equally the six Lok Sabha seats in the state, party sources have indicated. Though seat sharing arrangements are still to be finalised, sources in both the parties said it would be 50-50.

January 12th, 2009 JAMMU - Two terrorists and two policemen were killed in a gunbattle in a border district of Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday, the police said. The shootout erupted in the evening in the Kallila forests of Rajouri district, about 160 km north of Jammu, and the gunbattle was still on.

January 3rd, 2009 JAMMU - Omar Abdullah, accompanied by his wife Payal, arrived here to a warm reception from his supporters Sunday, a day before the National Conference president is to be sworn in as the ninth chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Hundreds of National Conference workers gathered at the Jammu airport to take the chief minister-designate to party headquarters Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here.

December 26th, 2008 SRINAGAR/JAMMU - SMS services on mobile telephones were restored in Jammu and Kashmir Saturday after a five-month ban, according to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) officials. The services were suspended Aug 1 when the Amarnath land allotment agitation was at its peak.