BANGLADESH
Jammu and Kashmir deported 300 Bangladeshi nationals found living illegally in the Union Territory. IAF flew them from Srinagar to Bagdogra in West Bengal as the Border Security Force took custody and escorted them to the border. Police say about 600 Bangladeshis have been identified. Most live in Kashmir, very few in Jammu. The figure is contested. Earlier records, cited by some media groups, put the number at 504, including 458 in the Valley.
The trail began with a routine check. For nearly seven months, police called migrant workers from orchards, brick kilns and construction sites to stations for verification. Aadhaar cards were examined. Discrepancies in the details triggered deeper scrutiny. Suspected foreigners were held in camps, and their details were shared with Dhaka. Once Bangladesh confirmed nationality, action began under the Foreigners Act.
The drive follows the MHA’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Change, headed by retired Justice Prakash Prabhakar Navlekar. The panel visited Jammu from August 10 to 12.
It also comes amid evictions of Rohingya settlements in Jammu, including Narwal, Karyani Talab and Sunjawan. Government data counts 7,656 Rohingyas in the region. Rights groups say about 1,800 have been made homeless. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called the sudden action “a bit strange”. Those who entered illegally, he said, must face the law. Rohingyas, who fled persecution, are a separate case.
Graduates from J&K’s government degree colleges fell 22.6% in three years, from 23,655 in 2023-24 to 18,312 in 2025-26, a decline of 5,343.
ANANTNAG
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has revoked the suspension of Dr Syed Maqbool Ahmad Shah, Associate Professor of Cardiology at GMC Jammu, nearly four months after he was suspended over alleged irregularities in cardiac procedures and PMJAY-SEHAT reimbursement claims. Reinstated with immediate effect, Dr Shah has been directed to report to his original posting at GMC Jammu. The action follows recommendations of the Suspension Review Committee under the J&K Civil Services (CCA) Rules, 1956.
Jammu and Kashmir has achieved 55.24% of its PM Surya Ghar target, installing 46,133 rooftop solar systems against 83,500 planned by March 31, 2027.
SHOPIAN
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed the preventive detention of Shopian resident Mashooq Ahmad Shah under the Public Safety Act (PSA), ordering his immediate release after 10 months in custody. On October 3, Justice Rajnesh Oswal held the detention grounds “false, incorrect, vague and non-existent”, ruling that they violated constitutional safeguards under Article 22(5). The police dossier had cited Shah’s “social acceptability” among local youth as a potential channel for anti-national outfits to build networks. The court noted that alleged links with individuals and groups were not specified, undermining his ability to challenge the detention.
Only 42% of Jammu and Kashmir’s net sown area was irrigated in 2023-24, leaving 58% dependent largely on rainfall and seasonal water availability.
UNITED STATES
Award-winning Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh, 42, has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since September 24, triggering a campaign for his release and legal assistance. He was arrested as he stepped off a flight at Washington Dulles International Airport while travelling to attend an Art as Resistance panel in Washington, DC. His supporters allege he was detained without a warrant despite presenting immigration documents. He is being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia.
However, the US Department of Homeland Security said Sheikh had overstayed his temporary admission, adding that a pending application does not confer legal status and that he would receive due process.
Sheikh entered the US in 2019 on a student visa to pursue film studies at Georgia State University and applied for asylum in 2020. Supporters say his immigration application remains pending and that he holds work authorisation.
The Srinagar-born filmmaker’s debut feature, Saffron Kingdom (2024), traces a Kashmiri family’s journey from the Valley to the United States amid conflict and displacement. The film won awards at several international festivals, while Sheikh received the Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award at the Teaneck International Film Festival in 2025. Sheikh is the son of celebrated Kashmiri folk singer Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, who disappeared in 2003 while travelling by train. Friends and supporters are raising funds for Arfat’s legal defence.
The Handicrafts and Handloom Department extended a Rs 14.71-crore working capital boost to Kashmir’s artisans and weavers under its flagship Credit Card Scheme in the first two quarters of FY 2026-27, with 1,332 of 3,885 applications sponsored to banks sanctioned and 1,054 loans disbursed by September-end.
SRINAGAR
An 80-year-old former Ayurvedic doctor has been arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police for allegedly defrauding land buyers across Kashmir through forged documents and multiple identities, targeting properties left behind by Kashmiri Pandit migrants. Police say the accused, identified in different records as Somnath Koul, Mohan Lal Dhar, Brijnath Bhat and Hadinath Dhar, allegedly posed as landowners or authorised attorneys, collected money and disappeared.
The investigation gained momentum after a south Kashmir resident complained of paying Rs 93 lakh for land in Drusoo, Pulwama, and poplar trees in Bijbehara, only to discover that the seller had no legal ownership. A Crime Branch FIR was registered on April 1, triggering a months-long hunt.
Police traced the accused through a land broker, Ghulam Mohidin Dar, arrested on September 17, whose interrogation helped investigators track the suspect to a house in Zewan, Srinagar, where he was arrested on September 24. Investigators say the accused had multiple Aadhaar and voter identity cards, while damaged fingertips and repeated failures in iris scans complicated biometric verification. Police have linked him to at least four other cases dating to 2017, involving alleged fraud in Pattan, Srinagar and Humhama. The accused is currently in judicial custody. Sleuths say they are pursuing land-fraud networks that prey on buyers investing their lifetime savings.
GERMANY
Kashmiri filmmaker Raja Shabir Khan’s The Sledge has been selected for the International Competition at the 31st SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences in Chemnitz, Germany, where it will have its world premiere. Shot around Gulmarg and Tangmarg, the Kashmiri-language film looks beyond the Valley’s postcard beauty to capture the everyday lives unfolding amid its snow-covered landscapes.
The film grew out of Khan’s documentary The Sledge Puller, about an elderly Gulmarg sledge puller whose sledge was stolen. The incident inspired a fictional story about a father, his children and a sledge that becomes the centre of a childhood adventure. Made independently, the film features no professional actors. Khan’s children, Haziq and Eashel, and his niece Raima play the young protagonists, while his brother and sister-in-law portray their parents. Khan says he wanted to capture the Kashmir he knows, not merely the landscape visitors admire, but a lived-in place where ordinary lives unfold amid extraordinary beauty.
KASHMIR
The Kashmir markhor, a threatened wild goat, is slowly recovering, and Kazinag National Park in north Kashmir remains its last stronghold. A four-year impact report on joint conservation work by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Wildlife Protection shows the population in the Kazinag range rose from 221 individuals in 2023 to 227 in 2026. Recovery of Kashmir Markhor-Capra falconeri-A threatened mountain ungulate in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Territory of India, said the researchers recorded 33 males for every 100 females and 69 kids for every 100 adult females. The high kid ratio signals strong recruitment and a healthy population that could keep growing.
Repeated monitoring along 12 permanent trails in Kazinag produced 600 direct sightings in 2026: 131 in summer, 158 in autumn, 127 in winter and 184 in spring. Over the four years, field teams surveyed more than 2,000 km in Kazinag and over 1,400 km in the Pir Panjal range. The report also records an 8 percent drop in livestock grazing in the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, easing pressure on the habitat.
BARAMULLA
Baramulla-born Nelofer, known as Nainu on internet, has been honoured in Dubai with the Real Estate & Lifestyle Influencer of the Year award. She has said the award gives her a chance to represent her Kashmiri roots on a global platform and hoped her journey will inspire more young people from the region to dream big and pursue their ambitions beyond conventional paths.
JAMMU KASHMIR
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has eased statutory approval requirements for private schools, amending the School Education Rules, 2010, to scrap several provisions and replace multiple clearances with self-attested certificates. Notified on October 5, the changes simplify compliance related to traffic safety, building norms, fire protection and laboratory chemical storage, while retaining schools’ responsibility to certify adherence to safety requirements. The move has been widely welcomed by private school representatives, who say multiple NOCs had imposed an unnecessary administrative and financial burden, particularly on institutions in rural and economically weaker areas. The changes are expected to streamline approvals and reduce red tape.
POONCH
A 19-year-old woman from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), who inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Poonch, was repatriated to Pakistan through the Chakan Da Bagh crossing. Samiya Azeem, a resident of Bains Gala village in Kotli district, was apprehended by Army troops at Pukherni village in Rajouri’s Nowshera sector on October 2. Questioning indicated that she had crossed the LoC inadvertently, with no apparent intention of entering Indian territory. After verifying her identity and coordinating with Pakistani authorities, the Army handed her over at 4.15 pm in the presence of officials from both sides.
LADAKH
Ladakh has launched its first large-scale saffron cultivation drive, with Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena announcing the planting of 90,000 corms weighing 800 kg across 4,000 square metres in Leh. The initiative, part of Project Him Sarovar to reclaim agricultural land, aims to create sustainable livelihoods for farmers, youth and self-help groups. The high-altitude experiment follows successful open-field saffron cultivation in Leh by CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, in 2024. Researchers say Ladakh’s unique agro-climatic conditions offer potential for expanding saffron production beyond Kashmir, though the success of the current plantation will determine its viability for wider cultivation. Kashmir’s Pampore remains India’s best-known saffron-growing region.
