Vice President Ansari to visit Kargil Sunday

July 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian government is pumping in Rs.120 million into Kargil - the remote mountainous region in Jammu and Kashmir that got into Indian drawing rooms due to the 1999 conflict with Pakistan - to bring it on the tourism map. The tourism ministry has sanctioned funds for the development of tourist facilities in Kargil, which is about 200 km from the state's summer capital Srinagar.

July 26th, 2009 VISAKHAPATNAM - India's first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine was launched here Sunday as the country marked the 10th anniversary of the victory over the Pakistani intruders in Kargil - and the coincidence was not lost on National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan. "Both were successes for us," replied Narayanan when asked if the launching of the submarine on the 10th Kargil Victory Day signified anything.

July 26th, 2009 DRASS - Soldiers and family members Sunday came together in this border town of Jammu and Kashmir to pay homage to army men killed in the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan. It was an emotive gathering as parents and siblings of soldiers visited the peaks of Drass where their loved ones perished while fighting to eject Pakistani raiders and camouflaged regular troops.

July 26th, 2009 DRASS - The hills of Kargil came alive Sunday night in a glow of yellow lights as India marked the 10th anniversary of its military victory against Pakistan by paying homage to the over 500 soldiers killed while recapturing the treacherous peaks. In an unprecedented military ceremony of its kind, army officers and soldiers, family members of those killed in the May-July 1999 fighting as well as people of this Shia-dominated region along the border of Jammu and Kashmir paid moving tributes to the martyrs of Kargil.

July 26th, 2009 DRASS - The hills of Drass in Jammu and Kashmir were lit up Sunday night climaxing a spectacular ceremony held here to mark the 10th anniversary of India's victory in the Kargil conflict with Pakistan. The peaks, recaptured from Pakistani intruders, that witnessed missile firings and shellings a decade ago were lit up with torches as the darkness descended on this town near the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir.

July 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony visited the Amar Jawan Jyoti here Sunday morning and paid homage to the Kargil war martyrs on the 10th anniversary of the armed conflict with Pakistan.

July 26th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Homage was paid to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil conflict at the Drass war memorial in Ladakh Sunday. Officers and jawans, as well as families of many of the martyrs, laid wreaths at the war memorial in the morning.

July 25th, 2009 HOSHIARPUR - Home Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday refused to comment on former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf's remarks that the Kargil conflict in 1999 was a "big success" for Pakistan as it forced India to start talks on the Kashmir issue.

July 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Air Commodore A.K. Sinha remembers vividly the first shots he fired from his Mi-17 helicopter at the Pakistanis seated on Tiger Hill and Tololing peaks in the icy heights of Kargil in 1999 -- and celebrating it with crunchy chocolates high in the air.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - This July 26, a central minister will take part in commemorations of India's victory in the Kargil conflict after a gap of five years. Defence Minister A.K.

July 4th, 2009 JAMMU - Vice President Hamid Ansari Saturday unveiled the memorial of Brigadier Usman, a battle hero of the Indian Army, at Jhangar near the Line of Control (LOC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Ansari unveiled the memorial in presence of senior army officials and other civil dignitaries at Jhangar in Rajouri district.

June 21st, 2009 SRINAGAR - Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari Sunday visited Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir amid a rousing welcome in the cold desert region of the state. Ansari is the first vice president of the country to visit the Kargil sector, bordering Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir, where Indian and Pakistani forces had engaged in a bitter conflict a decade ago.

June 20th, 2009 SRINAGAR - A shutdown called by separatists in the Kashmir Valley affected life in the summer capital and other major cities Saturday, even as Vice President Hamid Ansari arrived to preside over the convocation of Kashmir University. Authorities imposed strict restrictions Friday to foil a march by separatists to Baramulla town.

June 20th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari Saturday said here the economy of Jammu and Kashmir, devastated by two decades of militancy, needed to be reconstructed. Addressing the 17th annual convocation of the Kashmir University, Ansari said, The politics of polarization and manipulative practices have no place in our country." He focused his speech on the youth who, he said, constituted 40 percent of the state as also the country's population.

April 12th, 2009 JAMMU - The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir has stolen a march over the ruling National Conference (NC) by announcing its candidates for all the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Valley. PDP's senior vice president Iftikhar Hussain Ansari will be the party candidate for Srinagar parliamentary seat.