The Union government is pulling out all stops to organise the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir on a grand scale this year to reflect the overall improvement on the security front in the newly created Union Territory.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration and police have been asked to brace for around 8 lakh pilgrims for the yatra to the holy shrine in south Kashmir, which will commence on June 30 and conclude on August 11.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvinda Kumar arrived in Srinagar on April 14 on a two-day visit to review the security preparedness for the yatra. The senior officials will to assess the preparation for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu on April 24.
Earlier this week, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director-General Kuldiep Singh and Inspector-General (Operations) Nalin Prabhat reviewed the deployment and other measures for the annual pilgrimage. The CRPF deploys the largest number of personnel for the yatra.
A senior government official said that the yatra saw the arrival of around 6.3 lakh pilgrims in 2011, one of the highest footfalls in a decade, and plans were afoot to scale up the numbers. After the 2016 unrest in the Kashmir Valley, post the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, there had been a steep decline in the number of pilgrims enrolling for the yatra.
The year 2018 saw the arrival of 2.85 lakh pilgrims, the highest after the 2016 unrest when hundreds were killed and several injured due to pellet guns. In 2019, the yatra was abruptly called off on August 2, days before the government moved a legislation in Parliament to revoke the applicability of Article 370 of the Constitution in J&K, which granted the former State special status.
In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the number of pilgrims stood at 6.21 lakh, 3.54 lakh, 3.72 lakh and 3.53 lakh respectively.
“The yatra was planned in 2021 too but was called off due to rising cases of COVID-19. It could not be held in 2020, again due to the pandemic. This year, preparations are on to make it a grand success,” said the official.
Another official said that the success of the yatra will be an added feather in the cap for the Centre’s effort in improving the security scenario in J&K post-August 2019, when the former State was bifurcated and downgraded into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. J&K has been under Central rule since June 2018 after the PDP-BJP coalition government collapsed.
“Periodic review meetings are planned in the coming months,” said the official.
On April 6, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed Parliament that cross-border infiltration in J&K had decreased significantly since 2018 and the “net infiltration” was down to 34 in 2021. The Ministry said that there had been a substantial decline in terrorist attacks from 417 in 2018 to 255 such incidents in 2019, 244 in 2020 and 229 in 2021.
The yatra will commence from the twin routes of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.
In 2017, eight people were killed when a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims from Gujarat was attacked by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists near Batingoo in Anantnag district.
Following the incident, stringent measures were put in place, which included tagging of vehicles with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). This year, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) has been asked to provide RFID tags to pilgrims, unlike previous years, when the CRPF and J&K police had been tasked to do the job.
“The tags are helpful in knowing the precise location of the vehicles as the CRPF and other forces pilot them to the base camp from where the trekking to the holy shrine begins,” said another official.
All pilgrims are required to register with the SASB, pay a nominal fee and furnish health records before they are allotted the date and time to travel to undertake the yatra.
