Early Times Report
Jammu, July 11: The Amarnath Yatra which was suspended for three days resumed on Monday afternoon with pilgrims leaving the Jammu city for Kashmir Valley.
"Amarnath bound yatris left for the valley in 40 buses around 4.20 p.m. from Bhagawati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu city," a senior police official told.
"The convoy of the yatris is protected by the security forces who are escorting the pilgrims to the valley," he said.
Due to the prevailing law and order situation in Kashmir the yatra was suspended for the last three days as no pilgrim was allowed to proceed towards the valley during this period.
Meanwhile, authorities are arranging a special train which will leave Jammu around 8 p.m. on Monday to carry those pilgrims back home who reached the city in 200 buses from the valley after performing the yatra
Earlier, about 25,000 Amarnath pilgrims who had been stranded at twin base-camps of Baltal and Pahalgam following the outbreak of widespread violence in Kashmir Valley in the aftermath of the killing of a militant commander by security forces, have been evacuated.
These pilgrims after leaving the base-camps at Baltal in 1,741 buses and other vehicles at dawn on Monday for winter capital Jammu, have crossed the Jawahar Tunnel connecting the troubled Valley with Jammu region through Pirpanjal mountain ridge, police in Srinagar said.
As the 294-km Jammu-Srinagar highway, the vital road link connecting the Kashmir Valley with rest of the country, is shut since Saturday night, no pilgrim was allowed to move from the winter capital towards the Valley to relocate to the 12,729-foot-high cave-shrine tucked away in Pahalgam hills in south Kashmir. Special arrangement was on Monday made for the stranded pilgrims to take them out of the Valley under heavy police escort, official sources said.
Meanwhile, fresh batches of pilgrims who were camping at Baltal and Pahalgam for past couple of days were on Monday morning allowed to proceed towards the cave-shrine. "Yatra was released from Baltal and Pahalgam towards holy cave this morning. Till Noon, 2,462 yatris left these camps for darshan at Amarnath," a statement issued by police here said. It added that the air services are also going on smoothly and 449 pilgrims left to the cave-shrine by helicopters from Baltal and Chandanwari near Pahalgam to have darshan of the Ice Lingam. As many 2,799 pilgrims have paid obeisance at Amarnath till noon on Monday, which brings the total number of the worshippers who have visited the revered cave-shrine, so far, this year to 128,946.
Jammu and Kashmir government confirmed that the convoys of fresh pilgrims camping in winter capital Jammu "did not proceed towards the base-camps of Pahalgam and Baltal because of law and order considerations".
An official spokesman said that PK Tripathi, CEO of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), has been in constant touch with the J&K police authorities and has issued the requisite instructions to the Yatra Camp Directors from time to time "to ensure that the maximum possible number of pilgrims is enabled to complete their pilgrimage".
A statement from the J&K government said that the State Cabinet which met in Srinagar on Sunday reviewed the overall security situation, including issues relating to the safety of tourists and pilgrims. Governor NN Vohra who is the chairman of the SASB held a meeting with the State Chief Secretary, DGP and Home Secretary on Monday to review the various issues relating to the yatra. |
