Jammu, March 13: Jammu and Kashmir's main opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday announced a boycott of the remaining session of the state assembly over the union home minister's refusal to return parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's body to his family.

"The home minister (Sushilkumar Shinde) has insulted the sense of the house by refusing to return mortal remains of Afzal Guru. So, there is no use to sit in a house which has been insulted," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said while announcing the party's decision.

The summers came as a blow for the ice cream industry as the Kashmir valley was reported with a cooler temperature which led to a decrease in the sale of ice creams.

The facts thrown in corroboration with major dealers and hotels from Kashmir, ice cream sales have lowered to about 40-50 per cent when compared to same period last year.

It was the cold weather in the valley that resulted in hitting the ice cream industry hard when usually at this time of the year the valley is gripped in summers and people crave for ice-cream and similar cold things.

Getting the approval after months of debates on the viability of launching the prepaid services in the Jammu and Kashmir region, a source confirmed that the union home ministry has now put a ban on the bulk SMS facility to the subscribers operating in the area.

As the rule will come into effect, the mobile subscribers will only be able to send one SMS to only a single user at a point of time rather than the earlier facility of sending one message to multiple recipients. In fact, the ban comes taking the reason of 'security reasons' and the communication has already been passed to all of the telecom operators operating in the state.

The Government of India has decided to ban the SMS services for post paid mobile subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir. Only pre-paid customers will have this short message service but it has been restricted to 10 SMSs per day per pre-paid subscriber.

According to sources, the decision was taken unanimously by the state and Union Govt. Earlier the Department of Telecom has also tighten the screws of private mobile service provides in verification of the subscribers identification.

An army Jawan has been killed and three others injured in an encounter between security forces and militants in Sopore town of north Kashmir. This is the 15th encounter in Sopore since January 1, 2010.

The gun-battle broke around 7 in the morning when a search party entered a house in Chinkipora village in Sopore about 55 kms from Srinagar . According to police party was fired upon killing one soldier and injuring three other jawans.

The jawans were seriously injured when militants opened indiscriminate fire on the joint search party of army and police.

Excerpts from the interview:

Do you think Kashmir is reverting to the days of militancy in the 1990s?

Fifty- six- year- old Mughli Begum lost her senses in delight when she heard the news on television about Government considering to give general amnesty to the youth who crossed over to Pakistani side of Kashmir during militancy but now willing to come back.

Within minutes calls starting pouring in from near and dear ones. “The Government’s announcement was as if Eid for us. I still don’t believe that it is going to happen. I am going to see my son again.” says Mughli with full of hope.

Her son, Mohammad Yousuf (now called Jehangir), had crossed over to Muzaffarbad in 1991 when he was hardly 15

The ban on prepaid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir was lifted Thursday by the Centre, which, 15 days ago, had specified security considerations as the main factor in front of the Supreme Court, for not revoking the ban. But even when the prepaid connections would now be allowed in the state, there would be very strict conditions which the service providers will have to follow, like 100% verification and re-verification of prepaid customers.

The Central Government has decided to lift the ban on prepaid mobile phones in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, indicated a home ministry official on Thursday.

Government had imposed the ban due to security reasons on November 1, 2009 in the terrorist hit state. It was revealed that terrorists used pre-paid mobile phones to coordinate the terror attacks.

The ban will be revoked with immediate effect. An official indicated that telecom operators will have to carry out stringent identity checks before issuing prepaid SIM cards.

The centre has devised a foolproof plan to ensure proper verification of the cell phone subscribers in the state.

Srinagar, Jan 11 : Security forces Monday surrounded a house in Kashmir's Pulwama district following reports that a group of militants was hiding inside.

A senior police official told IANS that personnel of the state police, the Rashtriya Rifles and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have surrounded the house in Abhama village of the district, 43 km from here, after reports that two or three militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen were inside.

The house has been completely surrounded and flood-lights put up all around it.

The central government has informed the Supreme Court that it will not take back the ban on the pre-paid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir due to the security reasons.

Solicitor general, Mr. Gopal Subramanium appearing for Centre informed this to a bench comprising Mr. CJI K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan while filing an affidavit against the PIL filed by the J&K Panthers Party.

Regarding the issue, the director of the department of telecommunications, Mr. Shashi Mohan said that the President of India holds the ultimate authority for telecommunication services and the licensor reserves the right to stop operation at any time.

Srinagar, Jan 9 : The death of a youth injured in an alleged firing incident triggered fresh tension and clashes between protesters and the security forces in areas around city centre Lal Chowk Saturday.

Police said Mohammad Inayat Khan, 18, a resident of Dalgate area, succumbed to his injuries in the Soura medical institute aftere battling for life the whole night. His family members alleged Khan died in firing by the security forces during Friday evening's clashes in Lal Chowk.

They said the injured youth was also hit by a speeding vehicle while trying to escape the trouble in the city centre.

Pargwal Akhnoor (Jammu), Jan. 9 : Border Security Force personnel on Saturday foiled yet another infiltration bid by suspected militants along India-Pakistan border in Pargawal sector of Akhnoor here.

The security personnel noticed a group of suspected militants moving near the International Border (IB) in Sidhravan border out post (BoP) area in Pargawal sub-sector, 45 kilometres from here, around 4.30 am on Saturday.

As the BSF patrol party picked up the movement near the fence, the suspected militants suddenly fired at them. It is significant to mention that the militants and Pakistan Rangers fired at least 600 rounds to facilitate the infiltration bid.

However, suspected militants managed to escape.

Srinagar, Jan 8 : Two dozen protesters including some cops were wounded in anti-India protests in summer capital Srinagar and north Kashmir towns of Baramulla and Sopore after the Friday prayers.

For the third day running, protesters took to the streets in the Maisuma locality of the city as angry youth shouting slogans clashed with police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the area.

Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir), Jan 8 : A day after the end of 22-hour encounter of two terrorists at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were shot dead during a four- hour encounter near Pulwama in Kashmir Valley on Friday.

It was the second encounter in the Valley within last 48 hours.

According to Awantipura Superintendent of Police Basheer Khan, the slain terrorists have been identified as Altaf and Zafoor.

Srinagar, Jan 8 : Although the violent encounter at Lal Chowk in Srinagar has ended, but for some who have their business establishments in the area, the nightmare is far from over.

A two-day gun battle between security forces and separatist militants ended on Thursday.

As soon as shopkeepers opened their establishments on Friday they were shocked to see the devastation in their shops.

The shops and hotels in which the militants took shelter have been totally damaged by the gunfight and grenade explosions.

Srinagar, Jan. 8 : A day after the 22-hour security forces-terrorist encounter ended at Lal Chowk, a large group of local people, mainly shopkeepers on Friday protested over the damage done to the properties and went on rampage, following which police had to use tear gas shells and baton-charging to disperse them.

Hundreds of youths in the Maisoma area of Lal Chowk gathered after the Friday prayers and started pelting stones at the police.

Srinagar, Jan. 6 : Suicide attackers involved in firing and lobbing of grenade on a security force picket in Srinagar on Wednesday at Lal Chowk are from across the border, said a senior official of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Wednesday.

The attackers fired at a CRPF picket and then hurled a grenade before entering into a hotel building at Lal Chowk, the main business centre at the heart of Srinagar.

Jammu, Jan 6 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reviewed the security situation in the troubled state Wednesday in the aftermath of a guerrilla attack in Srinagar.

State's police chief Kuldeep Khoda has been asked to rushed to the summer capital where pro-Pakistan militants attacked a paramilitary picket killing a police constable and injuring eight civilians.

General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Northern Command Lt. Gen. B. S. Jaswal, who is one of the security advisors of the chief minister, met Abdullah at his residence.

Srinagar, Jan 5 : As Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah completed one year in office Tuesday, the journey so far has been anything but smooth for the young leader.

There have been many highs and lows during Abdullah's one year in office, yet many believe that the duration is too short to pass a verdict on his capability to steer the state out of its problems -- political as well as developmental.