PDP protests against prepaid connection ban in Kashmir

October 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - No new prepaid mobile connections would be issued nor would existing ones be renewed from Nov 1 in Jammu and Kashmir following reports that militant groups were getting SIM cards on fake identities, the union home ministry said Friday. The ministry of home affairs has decided that no prepaid mobile connections would be issued and existing prepaid SIM cards would not be renewed in Jammu and Kashmir after Nov 1, 2009, an official said.

October 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR - The union home ministry Friday banned pre-paid mobile phone connections in Jammu and Kashmir over serious security concerns following reports that militants were getting SIM cards on fake identities. I said this in Sriangar at the All India Editors' Conference.

October 23rd, 2009 BANGALORE - State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Friday launched prepaid broadband service for the first time in the country from this tech hub to enable customers access Internet in any city except Delhi and Mumbai. "There are no fixed monthly charges for prepaid broadband service.

September 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will take over investigations into the Shopian killings in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year, official said Tuesday. The bodies of two women - Nilofar and Asiya - were found by the side of a local stream near Shopian town in Jammu and Kashmir May 30.

August 5th, 2009 JAMMU - The first central university in Jammu and Kashmir will come up near this winter capital of the state, officials said Wednesday, ending the simmering discontent among student organisations here who were protesting the government's reported move to shift the varsity venue to the Kashmir Valley. The issue of shifting the venue to the valley and protests by students in Jammu was a "result of lack of communication and co-ordination between the state government and Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry", officials said.

August 3rd, 2009 SRINAGAR - Four separatist guerrillas and a soldier have been killed in the three-day north Kashmir gunfight that ended here early Monday. "Four terrorists have been killed in the gunfight with the security forces in the Nowgam sector of the line of control in Handwara district," a defence spokesman told IANS here.

July 25th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Separatists in Kashmir gave a shutdown call on Saturday in protest against the detention of their leaders. Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was on Tuesday booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for calling "frequent strikes and protests" in the valley.

July 10th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Kashmir observed a shutdown on Friday over alleged human rights violations in the valley. The shutdown, called by separatists, was in the wake of incidents of killings and re-arrest of its leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

June 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram will visit Jammu and Kashmir Thursday to review the security scenario in the state in the wake of the recent unrest in the valley over the alleged rape and murder of two women.

June 9th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Life limped back to normal in the Kashmir Valley Tuesday after eight days of a shutdown and violent protests, even as fresh violence left at least 20 people injured during demonstrations over the alleged rape and murder of two women. Educational institutions, business establishments, government offices and banks resumed their work after remaining closed for the last eight days.

June 8th, 2009 SRINAGAR - A policeman was arrested Monday for his alleged involvement in the rape of a minor girl in a north Kashmir village, police said. Nazir Ahmed, a constable of an Indian Reserve Police (IRP) battalion, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the Poshpora village near Tangmarg, 45 km from here.

June 8th, 2009 SRINAGAR - A paramilitary trooper was arrested Monday for his alleged involvement in the rape of a minor girl in a north Kashmir village, police said. Nazir Ahmed, a constable of an Indian Reserve Police (IRP) battalion, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the Poshpora village near Tangmarg, 45 kms from here.

June 3rd, 2009 SRINAGAR - Low voter turnout was witnessed in the Hazratbal assembly constituency here for which the balloting began early Wednesday amid shutdown and protests over the alleged rape and murder of two women last week. A few voters were seen outside various polling booths in the constituency for which by-poll was necessitated after National Conference president Farooq Abdullah quit the state assembly to contest Lok Sabha elections.

June 1st, 2009 SRINAGAR - A strike called by separatist leaders and protests by angry youth against the alleged rape and killing of two women in south Kashmir's Shopian district last week paralysed Kashmir Valley Monday, as authorities tightened security. The strike called by senior hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was complete in Srinagar and many other towns in the valley.

February 11th, 2009 JAMMU - The Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) Thursday announced that it has deferred plans to hold demonstrations from Feb 13 following assurances by the Jammu and Kashmir government that it will implement all clauses of the agreement that they signed in August last year. 'We had a meeting with government officials this morning.