Kashmir Valley was tense on Wednesday as the authorities enforced a security clampdown to foil attempts by BJP activists and Muslim separatists to pour into Srinagar’s central square Lal Chowk.

Lal Chowk, which is once again in the political spotlight after being chosen by the BJP’s youth wing for hoisting the tricolour on January 26, witnessed worst traffic jams during the day on Monday as several neighbourhood streets and roads have been blocked for their close proximity with city’s Bakshi Stadium, the venue of official Republic Day celebrations.

Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has refused to meet the Centre’s interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir on the plea that none of the proposals submitted to the government following a series of meetings the conglomerate leadership had with the Prime Minister between 2004 and 2006 were conceded to by it.

Lal Chowk is Srinagar’s nerve centre, often used for political articulation in the past nearly seven decades, besides being the business hub of Jammu and Kashmir’s main town.

Political tensions with possible law and order issues are likely to return to the Kashmir Valley later this month as pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has called for Lal Chowk chalo march on January 26 as a “counteract” to BJP’s plan to hoist the tricolour at Srinagar’s historic centre square coinciding with the Republic Day.

After an ostensible failure of yet another spell of “resistance movement” which overrode the Valley in the shape of a bloody civil unrest in summer 2010, the Kashmiri separatist leadership appears to

Stunned by his “azadi” for Kashmir remark, the Congress high command and chief minister Omar Abdullah are reported to have asked Jammu and Kashmir’s health minister Sham Lal Sharma to explain his posi

Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Villas Paswan, who is on a visit to Srinagar at the head of a delegation of political leaders, parliamentarians and civil society representatives to meet various section

Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s India visit, Jammu and Kashmir has been overwhelmed by enthusiasm, hope and apprehension even though some political watchers hold the view that it is unlikely to be any eventful as far as the issue of Kashmir is concerned. All he may do, however, is to urge India and Pakistan to get back to talking to resolve their outstanding issues particularly Kashmir, they say.

At least two militants, believed to be members of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit, were killed in a day-long gunfight with security forces in Maloora village, on the periphery of Srinagar, on Thurs