The five-day Jaipur Literature Festival closed on a sad, angry and distressing note on Tuesday when even the image of Salman Rushdie, the author of the Booker of Bookers Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses and other novels, was not allowed to appear on a video screen because of the fear of violence.

Gulmarg, the premier ski-resort of South Asia, witnessed a series of snow games on Monday coinciding with the World Snow Day, celebrated to motivate people from non-snow areas to turn to snow areas and promote winter sports.

A day after a Valley trader, associated with the Opposition PDP, was found murdered hours after he went missing while returning home from his jewellery shop in central district of Budgam, a 40-year-old business man was shot dead by unidentified men inside his house in southern Pulwama district on Tuesday.

In what may be called a major achievement on the insurgency front, more than 1,600 militants of nine separatist groups here on Tuesday laid down arms to join the peace-talks in the presence of Union home minister P. Chidambram.

As a gesture of defiance, a panel discussion was held later with writer Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, journalist Tarun Tejpal, and two members of the Rajasthan Muslim Forum — Salim Engineer, national secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and Mohammed Hasan, an academic and activist.

Though the human right groups expressed shock over the cancelling of author Salman Rushdie’s video address at Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), the Muslim activists assembled at the venue expressing joy and satisfaction.

The ministry of home affairs is seriously worried about the NSCN(I-M)’s direct involvement in the election process of Manipur.

Former BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, after being virtually hounded out of the BJP, has now floated a new organisation called Rashtriya Adhikar Manch.

Former BJP MLC Ramashish Rai, who demanded a probe into the financial transaction behind the induction of Babu Singh Kushwaha into the BJP, joined the Congress on Tuesday.

Dubbing the Manmohan Singh government the most corrupt, BJP leader L.K. Advani on Tuesday said some of its ministers were already in jail while some were waiting for their turn and asked people to overthrow the UPA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.