SRINAGAR, July 30 (2007): A militant group in Indian Kashmir on Monday withdrew its call for thousands of migrants to quit the region within a week, which had led to hundreds of people fleeing. The demand was prompted after two non-Kashmiris were arrested on suspicion of raping and killing a teenage girl. Hizbul Mujahideen, a frontline rebel group fighting for the region's merger with Pakistan, made the ultimatum on Friday after two migrant labourers were among six people arrested. "For the misdeeds of a few, all...

SRINAGAR, July 29 (2007): Six people, including four women, were killed and at least 21 wounded on Sunday by an explosion aboard a tourist coach in Kashmir's main city, police and witnesses said. Police were unsure if it was a grenade attack by militants or if a faulty air-conditioner had exploded inside the coach. "A low intensity blast took place in a tourist bus, killing six persons," a police statement said, adding that the cause of the explosion blast was under investigation. A senior police officer said an...

SRINAGAR, July 28 (2007): A militant group in Kashmir has told thousands of migrant labourers to leave the troubled region within a week after two non-Kashmiri labourers were accused of raping and killing a teenage girl. Hizbul Mujahideen, a militant group fighting for Kashmir's merger with Pakistan, has not said what will happen to those labourers who remain behind. "The involvement of non-Kashmiris in criminal activities is increasing and they are also pushing Kashmiri youth to all kinds of social evils,"...

MUMBAI, July 23 (2007): Public sector lender Jammu & Kashmir Bank said on Monday it plans to sell global depositary receipts representing 6.2 million shares. It also said it will issue 7 million convertible warrants to the government of Jammu & Kashmir on a preferential basis. Shares in the bank ended 0.94 percent up at 686.60 rupees in a firm Mumbai market.  

SRINAGAR, July 21 (2007): Eleven people including nine Hindu pilgrims were wounded on Saturday when suspected separatist militants lobbed a grenade at a pilgrims' community kitchen in Indian Kashmir, police said. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the second in the past five days during an annual pilgrimage. Annually tens of thousands of Hindus trek through treacherous mountain passes to the Amarnath shrine, where devotees worship a phallus-shaped ice stalagmite seen as a symbol of Lord...

ISLAMABAD, Jan 10 (2007): India's new foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected in Pakistan on Saturday for talks that are likely to show that a three-year-old peace process is on track even though no breakthrough appears near. It is more than 15 months since the last visit by an Indian foreign minister to Islamabad, and while Mukherjee was only appointed in October, the Pakistani leadership know him well from his previous job as defence minister. The upcoming ministerial talks come hard on the heels of a series...

SRINAGAR, July 9 (2007):  Omar Abdullah, the head of Kashmir's main opposition party, escaped unhurt on Monday when suspected separatist militants lobbed a grenade as he went inside a colleague's house, a party official said. The grenade exploded outside the house of an activist of Abdullah's pro-India National Conference party, wounding four policemen and a civilian, said party spokesman Nasir Sogami. "Omar Abdullah is safe," he said. Abdullah is the grandson of the state's first prime minister and son of a...

SRINAGAR, July 7 (2007):Police fired tear gas in Kashmir's main city to break up angry demonstrations on Saturday, a day after a teenage boy was killed and 21 people wounded in protests over alleged human rights abuses by troops. Police and witnesses said hundreds of people, shouting "We want freedom, Indian forces go back", clashed with police in several parts of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, "The angry mobs pelted police with stones and police used tear smoke to disperse them," a police official said. He...

SRINAGAR, July 2 (2007): At least 24 people were hurt in Indian Kashmir on Monday when police fired teargas at thousands of demonstrators protesting the killing of a villager in an alleged fake gun battle by security forces, witnesses said. Police in the revolt-torn Himalayan state in the past have been accused of murdering innocent civilians in staged gun battles and passing them off as separatist militants to earn rewards and promotions. Over 2,000 people gathered in Kupwara town -- nearly 90 km (55 miles) northwest...