The mood is sullen and profoundly nervous here over the events of the past fortnight full of violence, gruesome massacres and firing on the borders.

 Jammu and Kashmir has seen probably the most violent spell in the recent past in the decade-long battle of insurgents. Debris of houses damaged in the firing, burnt crops and civilian casualties in dozens testify to the intense firing and shelling in the border villages in north-west Kashmir. The one side of the picture, the other side is more horrifying.

Massacre after massacre took place in the mountainous parts of Jammu region's three hilly districts - Poonch, Udhampur and Doda. The violence spilled over to Himachal Pradesh. More than 80 people have been killed in these shocking massacres and those have spilled the blood of both the communities - Hindus and Muslims ... CM Farooq Abdullah has held a series of meetings with the Central leaders and state authorities to study the situation. His arguments to the Centre has been persistent. Face realities in J&K where a hostile neighbour is causing one problem after another. The Centre has neither provided additional troops nor the money to raise its own manpower to counter the newer challenges emerging on the beautiful but blood stained landscape of J&K.

Political inertia ... is gradually fading ... (Farooq Abdullah) was the first to visit Surankote after the massacre of 19 persons there early this week and announced an inquiry into the killings by Justice Ghulam Ahmad Kuchay, a retired judge of the State High Court and Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission ...The official claim that killings sparked off by inter-militant group rivalry. The (public) blame counter insurgents for the killings, 14 of whom were children.

Officials point out that Dr. Abdullah's stand has been vindicated as now even Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal has supported what Dr. Abdullah had been asking for long, more troops, greater vigil on the border and intensified offensives against the militants from within ... The normalcy that has dawned in Kashmir has caused consternation among the militant groups resulting in desperation and strike at the soft targets in Jammu.