GANDERBAL
A suspected extramarital affair has led to an unusual alleged drug-framing plot in Ganderbal, where police said a government employee tried to implicate his paramour’s newlywed husband in a narcotics case. Tariq Ahmad Sofi of Zainakote was arrested after a courier containing 4 kg of cocaine, besides charas and psychotropic tablets, reached the poultry farmer’s home in Safapora. The farmer was initially suspected of drug trafficking but told investigators that a Saudi number had earlier warned him against marrying his wife. His wife’s call records allegedly led police to Sofi, who, according to investigators, had been in a relationship with her for five to six years. Police allege Sofi arranged the parcel through a friend in Kanpur, disguising it as poultry samples, to get the husband jailed and clear the way for the relationship. The alleged associate is believed to have fled to Saudi Arabia.
Banks and financial institutions reported 868 fraud cases involving Rs 322.31 crore in Jammu and Kashmir between 2023-24 and 2025-26.
LOLAB
A 28-year-old youth from Dewar Lolab in Kupwara, Parvez Ahmad, has embarked on a 9-month bicycle journey to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. Beginning from his village on August 10, Ahmad plans to cycle to Delhi before flying to Kazakhstan and resuming his journey through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and the UAE before reaching Makkah. He said he had prepared for the arduous trip by cycling extensively across Kashmir and had postponed the journey after breaking his leg four years ago.
Jammu and Kashmir has approved diversion of 1,086.01 hectares of forest land for non-forestry purposes over the past three years and the current financial year.
POONCH
A 17-year-old girl died after the vehicle carrying her to hospital was stranded for nearly three hours on a mudslide-hit road in Rajouri, prompting the district administration to suspend a PMGSY official and order an inquiry. The girl, from Methyani village, was being taken to GMC Rajouri when the vehicle got stuck on the Chak Methyani-Panglar-Kotecharwal road. The administration said the road remained unfit for traffic despite an official report claiming it had been restored. The Assistant Executive Engineer in charge has been suspended pending inquiry, while the Executive Engineer’s salary was withheld over alleged misreporting. A detailed inquiry has been ordered.
The number of people treated for drug addiction at Union government-supported centres in Jammu and Kashmir rose to a five-year high of 46,491 in 2025-26.
DELHI
The Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir has recommended full restoration of Statehood, repeal of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and revival of the region’s disbanded human rights institutions in its seventh annual report, released on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. The Forum, co-chaired by former Union Home Secretary Gopal Pillai and former interlocutor Radha Kumar, said Jammu and Kashmir continued to face an imbalance in governance, with an elected government carrying political responsibility while substantial powers remained with the Lieutenant-Governor.
It urged restoration of meaningful governing powers to elected representatives, arguing that Statehood should no longer be deferred. The report also called for institutional reforms to address prolonged detentions, restrictions on civil liberties and concentration of administrative authority. The Forum flagged unemployment, economic distress and the difficulties faced by apple growers, besides alleged displacement of Gujjar and Bakerwal families during forest-clearance drives. It also recommended greater protection of human rights and stronger institutional safeguards, noting repeated judicial intervention in detention and UAPA cases. In Ladakh, it highlighted demands for greater constitutional and political safeguards.
The Forum said its recommendations sought to address what it described as the principal unfinished questions seven years after the 2019 changes.
Ladakh has disbursed Rs 1.10 Cr in incentives to 1,200-plus nomadic Pashmina herders as raw fibre collection rises to 19 MT by July, against 16 MT in all of 2025.
PULWAMA
LG Manoj Sinha has ordered the appointment of a special public prosecutor exclusively for a six-year-old UAPA case against PDP legislator Waheed Para. The Home Department appointed Abdul Rashid Dar, Additional Public Prosecutor in the NIA Court, Srinagar, to conduct proceedings in FIR No. 31/2020 pending before the Special Judge (TADA/POTA), Srinagar. Para was arrested in November 2020 and spent over 18 months in custody before the High Court granted him bail in May 2022, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court. Para has repeatedly criticised the slow pace of the trial, saying UAPA proceedings had themselves become “punishment”.
Ladakh recorded 3,30,332 tourist arrivals till July, already reaching 98.35 per cent of the 2025 full-year total.
ANANTNAG
After evading arrest for 35 years, railway police have arrested Altaf Hussain Sheikh, an alleged accused in the 1991 Jammu railway station bombing, from Anantnag. Sheikh, a resident of Marhama-Bijbehara, was arrested last week, and produced before the TADA Court for further proceedings. Police said Sheikh, along with three others, was involved in the April 2, 1991 blast at platform number 1 of Jammu railway station, which killed three people, including two paramilitary personnel, and injured 18 civilians. One accused, Aman Ullah Khan, was arrested soon after the blast, while three others escaped and were declared absconders. Police said Sheikh had gone underground and lived for decades under a concealed identity, eventually establishing himself as a successful businessman in Bijbehara. The railway police intensified their manhunt over the past two years before tracing and verifying his identity.
Fifty-eight of 1,489 fruit and vegetable samples tested in J&K over three years exceeded permissible pesticide residue limits.
KASHMIR
Dr Farooq Abdullah has sought a probe into threats issued to Kashmiri Pandit employees in Kashmir, questioning why they were being singled out. “Daal main kuch kalaa hai,” Abdullah said, arguing that security is the LG ’s responsibility and urging the MHA to identify those behind the threats. An online document, attributed to the United Liberation Council, reportedly named six Pandit government employees, mostly from the Revenue Department, along with their phone numbers and other personal details. While reports said some employees were informally advised to stay home, the School Education Department denied issuing any such directive.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 35 per cent surplus rainfall in July, ending an eight-month spell of below-normal precipitation.
CHASHOTI
A year after the Chasoti flash flood killed 93 people; remains of 30 victims are still untraced, leaving families without closure or compensation. An RTI reply by the Kishtwar administration records 63 recovered bodies, 30 missing persons and 127 injured. The August 14, 2025 disaster struck the last motorable point to the Machail Mata shrine, sweeping away a market, community kitchen and security post.
KOKERNAG
Nearly 36 years after Kashmiri Pandit poet and social worker Sarwanand Koul Premi and his son Virender were abducted and killed in Anantnag, the SIA has reopened the case with searches at nine locations across Jammu and Kashmir. The father and son were taken from their Soaf Shali home on the night of April 29, 1990, and their bodies were found hanging from a tree two days later. Premi, a writer, former headmaster, had chosen to remain in Kashmir despite the violence and growing exodus of Pandits. The SIA says fresh details and leads have emerged in the decades-old double murder.
JAMMU
The Centre’s high-level committee on demographic changes, headed by retired Justice Prakash Prabhakar Navlekar, has concluded its three-day Jammu visit after meeting Kashmiri Pandit representatives at Jagti, visiting a Rohingya settlement at Karyani Talab and hearing delegations representing PoJK refugees, Valmikis, Gorkhas, Rajputs and other groups. The committee is mandated to assess demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other causes and recommend policy, legislative and administrative measures. During its visit, officials briefed the panel on the presence of Rohingyas and suspected Bangladeshi immigrants in the Jammu region. The Awami Ittehad Party, however, said the exercise would remain incomplete if it ignored indigenous families displaced from their ancestral homes along the LoC. AIP said areas including Machil, Keran, Karnah, Gurez, Uri, Poonch and Mendhar had witnessed displacement due to violence, shelling and insecurity. The committee, the party said, must examine not only who enters J&K, but also who has been forced to leave.
PULWAMA
The BJP has suspended and removed its Pulwama district president Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi from all organisational posts after police registered an extortion case against him. The FIR, registered at Pulwama police station on August 10, followed a complaint by contractor Mohammad Yaseen Ganie, who alleged that Andrabi demanded Rs 5 lakh, threatened him and obstructed his soil-extraction work at Barthana. Ganie also alleged that Andrabi blocked vehicles at Parigam on August 8 and threatened workers with action under the Public Safety Act. The complaint said he had earlier been forced to make payments of Rs 50,000 and Rs 4,000. The BJP said disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against Andrabi, pending which he was removed from all party responsibilities. Andrabi, who unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Assembly election from Pampore, has previously been associated with the National Conference, PDP and Apni Party before joining the BJP.
ANANTNAG
A BJP rally in south Kashmir’s Anantnag to mark the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 has triggered a controversy after workers raised a slogan invoking the traditional Kashmiri names Aazi and Fazi, which critics said demeaned Kashmiri women. The BJP suspended nine workers and distanced itself from the slogan, calling the August 5 rally unauthorised.
The slogan appeared to invert the National Conference’s traditional chant, Aazi hund izzat, Fazi hund izzat, 370, 370, which associated Article 370 with the honour of Kashmiri women. The controversy intensified after a video of the rally went viral.
Former BJP MLC Sofi Mohammad Yousuf, who led the rally and was present when the slogans were raised, has not faced disciplinary action. He later said the slogan was aimed at the National Conference and was not intended to disrespect Kashmiri women.
The controversy has left the Anantnag BJP facing questions over both the offensive slogan and the differing treatment of those present at the rally.
POONCH
A 17-year-old girl died after the vehicle carrying her to hospital was stranded for nearly three hours on a mudslide-hit road in Rajouri, prompting the district administration to suspend a PMGSY official and order an inquiry. The girl, from Methyani village, was being taken to GMC Rajouri when the vehicle got stuck on the Chak Methyani-Panglar-Kotecharwal road. The administration said the road remained unfit for traffic despite an official report claiming it had been restored. The Assistant Executive Engineer in charge has been suspended pending inquiry, while the Executive Engineer’s salary was withheld over alleged misreporting.
UDHAMPUR
A 60-year-old man was killed and his wife went missing after the couple were swept away by a flash flood while crossing Kaghot Nallah in Ramnagar’s Kaghote area of Udhampur on Thursday. Police said Baldev’s body was recovered by rescue teams, while search operations for his wife Maya Devi, 55, were suspended due to darkness and will resume in the morning. The couple were reportedly returning home after grazing sheep in a forest area when the incident occurred.
Forty-two children from Jammu and Kashmir were adopted through the Central Adoption Resource Authority during 2025-26.
SRINAGAR
Jammu and Kashmir has revised compensation under its security-related expenditure (SRE) norms, raising assistance to Rs 25 lakh for J&K-domicile defence and CAPF personnel killed in terror-related incidents. Families of police personnel killed in action will receive Rs 12 lakh, while the next of kin of Special Police Officers will get Rs 5 lakh. Civilians killed in terror incidents or cross-LoC shelling will receive Rs 1 lakh. The revised norms also provide compensation for disability and injuries, including to government employees hurt while on duty. Relief for property damage during counter-terror operations has been capped at Rs 10 lakh, subject to assessed loss.
Jammu and Kashmir has received and utilised Rs 61.35 Cr under projects supported by the Nirbhaya Fund since its inception.
