Hindu pilgrimage begins in Kashmir amid heavy security

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - The annual Hindu pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave shrine in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region began Wednesday amid tight security measures involving layered deployment of thousands of paramilitary troopers and high-tech surveillance tools.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who leads the region and is also the head of the Amarnath shrine board (SASB) that manages the pilgrimage, flagged off the first batch of pilgrims numbering more than 5,800 from Jammu region towards Kashmir Valley.

He prayed for a peaceful journey and sought blessings for all before flagging off the yatra, or journey.

He said the security for the pilgrimage will be monitored round the clock from the Integrated Command and Control Centre in the region, while radio frequency technology is being used for tracking and monitoring.

The 38-day pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave named Amarnath, located at an altitude of about 3,880 meters (12,576 feet), will commence on Thursday via the twin tracks — the traditional 48km (29,826 miles) Nunwan-Pahalgam route in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and the 14km (8.7 miles) shorter but steeper Baltal route in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

Additional troops and other security forces have also been deployed to thwart any untoward incident.

Tens of thousands of Hindus trek, horse-ride or take a chopper ride to an ice stalagmite in the cave, believed to be a manifestation of Hindu deity Shiva.

The pilgrimage used to be a low-key affair lasting for 15-30 days, but after 1990, when an insurgency began in the region, the number of pilgrims has been growing steadily, especially after the formation of the shrine board in 2000.

The rush has been aided by the state-sponsored infrastructure build-up, some of it in environmentally fragile areas, which has sparked concern from environmentalists and had triggered an agitation in 2008 after 50 acres of state forest land was transferred to the board. The land transfer order was then withdrawn and the agitation led to the fall of the then local coalition government.

In 2005, the board extended the yatra to two months, but weather sometimes forces the authorities to curtail the duration.

Last year, 512,000 Hindus -- highest in 12 years -- from various parts of India visited the shrine during a 52-day period yatra. This year’s pilgrimage will end on Aug. 9.

The local government has set up several transit accommodations along the two routes of the pilgrimage, where pilgrims stay before embarking towards the cave.