Srinagar| Sept, 12: The highly decomposed body of a suspected Pakistani terrorist affiliated with the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit was recovered from the higher reaches of Doda district of Jammu division on Saturday, officials said.
A US-made M4 carbine and ammunition were recovered alongside the unidentified body, suggesting that the deceased was likely a senior commander of the Pakistan-based terror outfit.
A senior official told Kashmir Horizon that they suspect that the terrorist may have suffered injuries during an encounter with security forces last year and later succumbed to those injuries while hiding in the dense forested terrain, officials said.
“The body was recovered from the remote Divshetar area of Seojdhar forest during a joint operation involving the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police, the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF),” he said.
The difficult and densely forested Seojdhar area connects the Bhaderwah valley of Doda with the adjoining districts of Udhampur and Kathua.
“You Can Run But You Can’t Hide! SOG Doda, RR (Rashtriya Rifles) and CRPF retrieved the remains of a Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist, who was neutralised earlier in a Joint Op (operation). A night-enabled M4 has also been recovered,” the Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a post on X.
The advanced stage of decomposition indicates that the death could have occurred considerably earlier, officials said, adding that the exact circumstances and timing of the death are being ascertained.
The Seoj Dhar and adjoining higher reaches have remained operationally significant as JeM terrorists have used the area after infiltrating from across the border and moving through difficult mountainous terrain to establish hideouts and evade security forces.
Security forces have been carrying out sustained counter-terror operations across the Doda-Kishtwar-Udhampur-Kathua belt for the past several years to dismantle such networks and deny terrorists safe passage and shelter in the upper reaches.
Officials said relentless operations have resulted in the elimination of a large number of active terrorists operating in the region, many of them identified as Pakistani nationals. Security agencies have also maintained heightened surveillance and launched searches in remote forest areas based on intelligence inputs and assessments of possible terrorist movement.
According to official figures, four terrorists and five security personnel were killed in separate encounters in Doda district in 2025. In adjoining Kishtwar district, five people, including four terrorists and one security personnel, have been killed this year, compared to four deaths in 2025, including three terrorists and one security personnel.
In 2024, Doda recorded five deaths, including three security personnel and two civilians.
In Udhampur, four people were killed in 2024, including two terrorists, one security personnel and one civilian. In 2025, four people were killed, comprising one terrorist and three security personnel. The district has so far recorded two terrorist deaths in 2026.
Kathua recorded the highest casualties among the four districts in 2024, with nine deaths, including two terrorists and seven security personnel. In 2025, seven people were killed, including three terrorists and four security personnel, while 2026 has so far witnessed the death of one terrorist.
The recovery of the body from Seojdhar forest came days after Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat visited a joint temporary operating base at the Doda-Kathua-Udhampur trijunction on September 10 to review the security situation and operational preparedness in the strategically important belt.
He was accompanied by Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, Tejinder Singh; DIG Doda-Ramban-Kishtwar Range Sargun Shukla; DIG Udhampur-Reasi Range Shiv Kumar Sharma; and SSP Doda Kartik Shrotriya.
Security forces continue to maintain a strong presence across the mountainous areas and conduct coordinated search and area-domination operations to prevent terrorists from exploiting dense forests and difficult terrain.
Officials said such operations will continue to consolidate the gains made against terrorism in the hilly belt and ensure that the region remains peaceful.

Srinagar|Sept, 10: Jammu and Kashmir must move beyond being a sought-after filming location and develop into a centre where stories are written, talent is nurtured and films are produced, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Thursday, as the first International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK) concluded at the SKICC.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of the four-day festival, Omar said the long-term success of IFFJK would not be measured by the number of films screened or filmmakers who attended, but by the careers it helped launch, collaborations it enabled and stories from J&K that eventually reached audiences in India and abroad.
“Our ambition must go beyond being a beautiful filming location: Jammu and Kashmir must increasingly become a place from which stories emerge, talent is discovered, and films are conceived and created,” he said.
The festival, which brought 120 films from more than 30 countries to Kashmir, provided a platform for filmmakers, artists, students and young aspirants to interact with established members of the film industry.
Omar said the participation of young people was among the more significant aspects of the festival, particularly the opportunities it created for them to engage with professionals and explore storytelling, filmmaking, technology and collaboration.
He said the government’s role should be to create an enabling environment, while the film and creative community would have to sustain a culture of cinema in the region.
The Chief Minister also sought to broaden the idea of what J&K could offer filmmakers. While its mountains, lakes and landscapes had historically attracted film productions, he said the region’s languages, literature, music, crafts, history and everyday lives could provide a much larger pool of stories.
“Our landscapes may bring filmmakers here, but our stories, our people and a professional filmmaking environment can bring them back,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister also underlined the economic potential of a stronger film ecosystem, saying productions in J&K should generate local employment and build skills among artists, technicians, craftspeople and service providers.
“Films coming to Jammu and Kashmir should therefore leave behind not only memorable images, but also skills, employment and stronger local capabilities,” he said.
He urged filmmakers visiting the festival to return to J&K not only to shoot but also to write, teach and collaborate with local talent.
For young filmmakers from the region, Omar said the focus should be on developing their craft and telling stories rooted in their own surroundings.
“Tell the stories of your neighbourhoods, villages, families and generation,” he said, adding that powerful cinema could emerge from intimate and local stories when backed by an authentic voice and strong craft.
The Chief Minister also referred to Kashmir’s long association with Hindi cinema, recalling films such as Junglee, Arzoo, Kashmir Ki Kali and Kabhi Kabhie that had used the region’s landscape as an important part of their visual identity.
He described the festival’s floating cinema on Dal Lake as one of the defining moments of its inaugural edition, saying it symbolically brought the screen back to the place that had featured prominently in Indian cinema for decades.
But Omar cautioned against allowing nostalgia to define the region’s cinematic future.
He called for IFFJK to develop beyond a four-day annual event into a year-round platform for film screenings, training, learning and collaboration, with its future direction shaped by feedback from filmmakers and audiences.
“Ten years from now, IFFJK’s success will be measured not only by the films screened or the personalities who joined us, but by the careers that began here, the opportunities and collaborations it created, and the stories from Jammu and Kashmir that reached audiences across India and the world,” he said.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, members of the J&K Council of Ministers, legislators, senior civil and police officers, filmmakers and delegates from India and abroad were present at the concluding ceremony.
Omar said the first edition should be seen as the beginning of a larger effort to build a sustainable film ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir.
“If, years from now, filmmakers from Jammu and Kashmir are standing at festivals across the world with stories that first found encouragement or opportunity here, we may look back on these four days as the moment when something enduring began beside Dal Lake,” he said.

Srinagar|Sept, 10: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the government was bound by law to follow the prescribed protocol on the rendition of Vande Mataram at official functions, amid a political row over the singing of the full version of the national song at the inauguration of the International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK).
Responding to criticism from Congress leaders, Omar said the issue had been unnecessarily politicised and that the government had no discretion to disregard a statutory requirement at official events.
“They should have stopped this in Parliament. But a law has been enacted,” Omar told reporters.
He said the presence of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Acting Chief Justice at an official function meant that the national anthem would be played, along with the national song as required under the prevailing legal framework.
“This is not just for Jammu and Kashmir; it applies to the entire country. In states governed by the Congress, the same will happen at government functions,” he said.
Omar said his party, the National Conference, had not adopted Vande Mataram as a party position and would not do so in the future. However, he said, the government was required to comply with the law.
“When the Congress comes to power, they can revoke this in Parliament. Let them do it, we have no objection. But whatever our legal and statutory obligations are, we have to fulfil them,” he said.
The controversy erupted after the full version of Vande Mataram was sung during the opening ceremony of IFFJK. Congress had criticised the National Conference over the issue, prompting a response from the Chief Minister.
Omar said the same protocol would apply at the festival’s closing ceremony, where a Union minister was scheduled to be present.
The Chief Minister also dismissed the controversy surrounding remarks by National Conference chief spokesperson and Zadibal MLA Tanvir Sadiq about the historical poverty of Kashmiris.
Defending Sadiq, Omar said the remarks were based on historical accounts of poverty and exploitation in Jammu and Kashmir and were not intended as an insult to the people.
He referred to Walter Lawrence’s writings and said several historians had documented the economic hardship faced by people in Kashmir during the period of landlords and other intermediaries.
Omar said senior National Conference leaders had previously spoken about the same historical context.
“This is not Tanvir’s personal opinion; it is a historical fact,” he said, adding that Sadiq’s intention was to highlight the social and economic progress achieved by Kashmiris.
The Chief Minister also accused the BJP and PDP of jointly amplifying the controversy and said neither Sadiq nor the National Conference needed to apologise or issue a clarification.
On the film festival, Omar said the government was looking at ways to create greater opportunities for young people in Jammu and Kashmir to enter the film industry.
He said local youth would be encouraged to undergo training in camera work, production and other technical aspects of filmmaking, while film shoots in J&K could provide them with opportunities to gain practical experience.
The remarks came as the first IFFJK concluded in Srinagar on Thursday after four days of screenings and events involving filmmakers and delegates from India and abroad.
On protests by Kashmiri Pandit employees over accommodation, Omar said the government had provided transit accommodation wherever it was ready and rejected claims that employees were being left without shelter.
He said employees who still required accommodation should approach the administration and identify their specific requirements.
“Wherever transit accommodation is ready, it has been allotted to them,” he said.
On the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi, Omar said the participation of leaders from major member countries and the expansion of the grouping were developments that should be watched.
Asked about the scheduled meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Chief Minister said cabinet meetings were held regularly and that governance would continue irrespective of political controversies.
“The agenda of governance cannot stop,” he said.

The simulator is aimed at strengthening the operational and technical skills of loco pilots and providing them with repeated practice in handling adverse and emergency situations without requiring the use of an actual locomotive.

According to the Jammu Division, the simulator will recreate conditions such as dense fog, heavy rain, landslides and signal failures, allowing loco pilots to practise responding to situations that can affect train operations.

The facility will also be used for training in signalling, braking techniques and locomotive operations. Officials said it would allow loco pilots to practise emergency responses, including situations involving brake failure, overshooting and sudden obstructions on the track.

The simulator is expected to support regular training and refresher courses for loco pilots, besides helping newly recruited personnel develop operational skills.

A key advantage of the system is that training can be repeated without fuel consumption or the operational costs associated with running a locomotive. It also provides a controlled environment in which mistakes can be identified and corrected without putting personnel or railway operations at risk.

The Jammu Division has also been conducting awareness programmes focusing on the mental health and welfare of loco pilots, officials said.

Railway officials said the new training facility is part of the division’s efforts to strengthen safety measures and improve the preparedness of loco pilots operating trains in the region.

The initiative comes as Indian Railways continues to emphasise simulation-based and technology-enabled training as part of efforts to improve operational safety.

The Jammu Division said the simulator would be installed at the Jammu Lobby, enabling loco pilots to access the training facility at their workplace.