JAMMU & KASHMIR

Srinagar
Rail services in Valley to resume today: The rail services in the Kashmir valley, which were suspended five months ago, will be restored on Thursday, official sources said. The repair work along the Budgam-Srinagar-Qazigund track had been completed. The services connecting south and north Kashmir were suspended on July 31 after tracks were damaged in protests and several stations were ransacked, forcing the railway staff to flee from the Valley. Many attempts to repair the damaged rail infrastructure were hampered due to stone throwing and protests in some areas, including Bagh-e-Mehtab, Sopore and Pattan over the past few months.

ANC for summit on Kashmir issue: The Awami National Conference (ANC) said today that it would hold a five-region summit of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar, Ladakh, Muzzafarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan for a final and peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, senior vice-president of the party Muzaffar Shah said, “The ANC earnestly believes that the Kashmir issue has been awaiting a resolution for the last 62 years. We affirm unless all three principal parties — India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir — come on a platform, no respectable or everlasting solution could be reached.”