Court hears cases on India's moves in Kashmir

NEW DELHI: The Latest on India revoking status of Indian-administered Kashmir (all times local):

12:15 pm

A lawyer for a Kashmiri newspaper editor says India's top court has heard petitions challenging the revoked status and lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The court gave no immediate ruling after hearing the petitions Friday. The petitions were filed by advocate ML Sharma and by Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin.

Vrinda Grover, the attorney for Bhasin, said the government assured the court that the ground situation in Kashmir was being reviewed daily and that the restrictions will be removed over the next few days. Grover said the judges decided to give the government more time.

The lockdown now in its 12th day includes a near-constant curfew and a news blackout in the disputed Himalayan region. Some analysts have said the revoked status was illegal because it was done without Kashmiri representation.

Noon

The family of a Kashmiri journalist working with a regional English daily says he has been detained by Indian armed forces.

Irfan Amin Malik is 26 and works for Greater Kashmir, one of the largest circulating newspapers in the region.

Malik's father Mohammed Amin Malik told The Associated Press that Malik was taken into custody late Wednesday night at his house in Tral in Pulwama, a southern district in Kashmir. He said, "We are worried about our son."

Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal said he was looking into the case. Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh declined to comment on the issue.

Malik's is the first detention of a journalist in the region since India decided to revoke Kashmir's special constitutional status on August 5.

Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan and divided between them.

9:30 am

Pakistan's military says Indian troops have fired across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, killing another soldier and bringing the death toll to six in less than 24 hours.

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet Friday said "another brave son of soil lost his life in the line of duty" in Buttal town.

Pakistan's military and police said Thursday that Indian firing killed two civilians and three soldiers in Pakistan's part of Kashmir, which is split between the nuclear-armed rivals and claimed by both in its entirety.

New Delhi downgraded the autonomy of the part of Kashmir it controls last week and imposed a lockdown now in place for a 12th day.

India's top court on Friday will hear petitions challenging the revoked status.