News stories by Athar Parvaiz, page 4

SRINAGAR, May 18 (IPS) - Aadil Khan and his two siblings had been playing as usual behind their house in the village of Diver, 110 kilometres north of Kashmir's capital, Srinagar, when they came across what they thought was a "plaything" laying on the ground. But no sooner had they picked the object up than it literally shattered their innocent lives into pieces.

SRINAGAR, Mar 23 (IPS) - The girl band in Kashmir was silenced; the male bands are running into fears of another kind of silence.

SRINAGAR, Feb 11 (IPS) - "Give us his body; we want to give him a respectable burial…" this is the overwhelming demand across Kashmir following the hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru who was convicted for his role in the attack on the Indian parliament on Dec. 13.  2001. Nine people died in the attack.

SRINAGAR, Dic 15 (IPS) - Amid growing scepticism among Kashmiri people that the separatist leadership has lost relevance in the region's fast-changing political landscape, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference – an alliance of separatist political parties and religious and social groups - is making a Herculean effort to reclaim some relevance in this disputed region.

SRINAGAR, Dic 05 (IPS) - Nestled in a valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range, Kashmir is an idyllic and culturally rich region, a cradle of Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist religious relics and architectural sites.

SRINAGAR, Oct 30 (IPS) - Bashir Ahmad Malik was flabbergasted when a helicopter carrying an Indian official from Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar landed in his resident Drang village, just 17 miles away from its point of departure.

SRINAGAR, Oct 18 (IPS) - Fayaz Ahmad’s Faim Internet Café in the Sopore township of Indian Kashmir was booming until a year ago, when police entered his premises without warning and seized all his computers.

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 31 (IPS) - Jowhar Ahmed, an air-conditioner dealer in Srinagar, is pleased at a spurt in business this summer caused by temperatures soaring over 35 degrees Celsius - unusual in this alpine valley ringed by snow-capped mountains.

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 30 (IPS) - The violence that killed thousands in Kashmir during the turbulent 1990s has eased; now killer roads are taking their toll.

SRINAGAR, Jul 30 (IPS) - As part of recent confidence building measures aimed at minimising tensions between India and Pakistan, which arose largely due to conflicting claims over Kashmir, the two countries have decided to make the Valley an economic bridge, rather than a bone of contention.