The 14th phase of the Jammu and Kashmir panchayat elections ended on Monday afternoon in eight panchayat blocks across the state.

It seems all is not well within the so-called moderate faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance even after it revoked its earlier decision suspending one of its founding constituents, Jammu and Kashmir Itehad-ul-Muslimeen, over its patron moulvi Abbas Ansari’s holding a meeting with the Centre’s interlocutors in April 2011.

Jammu and Kashmir police has registered a case against unidentified Army personnel for allegedly entering three hotels in the dead of the night in Leh and harassing tourists, including foreigners, earlier this week.

In a surprise move which at the least can be described as eating humble pie, the Hurriyat Conference faction led by Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has revoked its earlier decision of suspending Jammu and Kashmir Itehad-ul-Muslimeen, one of the founding constituents of the conglomerate, over its leader’s holding a meeting with the Centre’s interlocutors in April this year.

Lawyer Ram Jethmalani’s Kashmir Committee is arriving here on a five-day visit from Thursday to renew its effort seeking “an enduring solution to the Kashmir problem” by meeting various stakeholders, including separatist and mainstream political leaders.

Panun Kashmir, an outfit of expatriate Kashmiri Pandits, has ridiculed Union minister for renewable energy and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah’s plea that India should help Pakistan in fighting terror. “Pakistan continues to export terror and India has been the main recipient. It is naïve to suggest the victim should try to help

A low intensity tremor jolted the Kashmir Valley on Monday although no damage to life or property was reported. Local official Amir Ali said the earthquake, measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale, occurred in the valley at 9.15 AM.

Jammu and Kashmir governor N.N. Vohra has felicitated 12 youths from the state who cracked the all-India civil services exam this year, expressing hope that their effort would inspire more to compete at the national level.

Chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference were on Friday put under house arrest as hard line leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for a rally at Hazratbal shrine on the banks of the Dal Lake here.

The Army has categorically stated that there has been no major infiltration bid from across the Line of Control so far this year and media reports suggesting that as many as 40 heavily armed militants sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir from PoK recently are “concocted and baseless”.