The security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Khrew in Pampore area of Pulwama district following information about presence of militants there.
Naseer Ganai April 22, 2021 00:00 IST Footfalls Of Integration outlookindia.com 2021-04-23T13:49:13+05:30
Not a day passes when the government and BJP leaders don’t talk about the large number of tourists visiting Kashmir as evidence that people in the Valley have started accepting the new political reality created by the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. For almost six months, all hotels, especially in Gulmarg and Pahalgam, had been closed due to the military siege and communication blockade that accompanied the abrogation. In 2020, after the government lifted restrictions on travel to the Valley despite the Covid lockdown, 41,267 tourists, including 3,897 foreigners, visited Kashmir the lowest number since 1990. Since December 2020, however, the number of tourists has gone up drastically 19,102 visited in January alone, 26,180 in February and 47,593 in March.
outlookindia.com 2021-03-12T15:58:36+05:30
Irshad Ahmad Dar, 30, has never gone trekking, a familiar pastime among Kashmiri youngsters. Over the past nine months, however, he has become a familiar face for villagers in the mountains around Gangbal lake in northwest Kashmir’s Sonmarg area, which he has been visiting every week. The villagers know him as the brother of a “disappeared person”. “People suffer worse tragedies here, but at least many of them find some sort of closure. If I stay at home for some time, I start thinking about what happened to my brother. I rush to the mountains thinking he is stuck in a ditch somewhere, waiting for me to pull him out,” he says. On June 13, 2020, Irshad’s brother Hilal, 25, had left his home in Srinagar’s Bemina area along with four other young men for a one-day trek. The others returned to their homes in the evening, but Hilal did not. Inquiring about him, Irshad visited the homes of Hilal’s trekking companions. He