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| Despite turmoil pilgrim traffic may swell to five lakhs | | | By the end of Thursday about 4.25 lakh pilgrims have completed their yatra after performing prayers in the Amarnath mountain cave,situated at a height of over 13500 ft in eastern Kashmir.The two-month long yatra had started from July 1 and is scheduled to end on August 24/It was once again that the annual pilgrimage took place when the entire Kashmir valley was rocked by unprecedented turmoil.Right from June 11,when the first civllian killing in fire opened by the security force,triggered violence that suspense hung heavy on the yatra.While one prayed for the successful completion of the pilgrimage the others wished the pilgrims to have an incident free yatra.One had not expected that the annual pilgrimage will attract unprecedented rush because of the ongoing turmoil.It was not the case and if all goes well the number of pilgrims,visiting the holy cave shrine by the end of the yatra,could swell to over five lakhs.Yes the irresistible call of Lord Shiva and his consort,Parvati,residing in the mountain cave,encouraged pilgrims to ignore the roar of the teargas shells and the guns,the roar of the clashes between the protesters and the security forces and the loud slogans of the stone pelting groups of youth.The pilgrims faced many odds but were able to make it to the cave.On occasions there were weather related problems and on other occasions the fears of pilgrim convoys being attacked anywhere in south Kashmir but these issues did not deter pilgrims in their resolve to visit the cave.The state authorities had made elaborate security arrangements right from the base camp of Jammu to the cave via Pahalgam and between Jammu and the cave via Baltal route.The pilgrims were,in fact,escorted from Jammu to Pahalgam by companies of police and paramilitary forces.The centre had despatched a few additional companies of paramilitary forces for upgrading the security grid during the yatra period.Even the troops had been pressed into service for sanitising the holy cave and its immediate surroundings against militants and against any explosives having been planted by the militants.Even in the face of stiff opposition from Syed Ali Shah Geelani,who heads one faction of the Hurriyat Conference, to keeping the annual yatra a two-month long affair the supporters of Geelani had made no attempt at attacking the yatris indicating that Geelani was against the period of the yatra as he wanted it to be a 15-day affair and not against the pilgrimage.There were minor incidents when some miscreants tried to stone the buses carrying pilgrims but no major damage was done.In the past there have been minor incidents of attack on the buses carrying pilgrims but that had not cast any thick shadow on the number of pilgrims.Yes had not those attacks been carried out the number of pilgims would have been bigger.And if the demonstrators,protesting against human rights violations and against the delay in settling the Kashmir issue,had attacked some of the buses carrying pilgrims the figures would have not crossed four lakhs despite the fact that a section of the pilgrims are so determined to visit the cave that they are prepared to face death while on yatra to the Amarnath cave.There are people who give credit to the security setup that facilitated incident free pilgrimage.There are people who salute the grit and courage of the pilgrims for making it to the holy cave despite violence in Kashmir.They are not wrong.But if any section of people that deserve bigger credit for making it possible for over four lakh to visit the cave amid turbulence it is the people of the valley,especially the muslims and those belonging to the separatist camps.They saw to it that the yatris faced no problem.They ensured that pilgrims did not face any dificulty.Had they not decided so they could have created a major problem for yatris when they have shown the capacity to defy curfew restrictions and face bullets.
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