The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended on both Pahalgam and Baltal routes due to heavy rains in Kashmir. Authorities have halted the pilgrimage from base camps, affecting the movement of pilgrims.
The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended due to heavy rainfall in the Kashmir Valley. The pilgrimage was halted from both Pahalgam and Baltal base camps due to continuous heavy rains, necessitating restoration work on the tracks. A weather advisory has warned of more heavy rain in the region.
At least 36 Amarnath pilgrims sustained minor injuries when five buses collided in the Ramban district along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The accident occurred due to brake failure, and the injured were treated and continued their journey.
The first batch of pilgrims reached Kashmir on Friday for the annual Amarnath Yatra, beginning Saturday, with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagging off 4,603 yatris in the morning from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp in Jammu under a tight security cover.
Defying apprehensions of the horrific April 22 terror Pahalgam attack casting a shadow on the Amarnath Yatra this year, hundreds of pilgrims from various parts of the country lined up at the registration centre in Jammu on the first day.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
An aerial survey of the Baltal-Amarnath holy cave route does not reveal any road widening or construction work being undertaken by the Jammu and Kashmir government in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region as alleged by hardline Hurriyat Conference.
Travelling from South India to Kashmir in December was magical for Ganesh Nadar as he feasted his eyes on the beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas.
The month-and-a-half annual yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath took off on Wednesday morning as the first batch of pilgrims left for the shrine from the two base camps: north Kashmir Baltal and south Kashmir Pahalgam amid tight security.
More than a dozen Mountain Rescue Teams assisted thousands of pilgrims during this year's Amarnath pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Monday, as the annual yatra concluded with more than 5.10 lakh pilgrims offering prayers at the cave shrine.
Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a high-level meeting on June 3 to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the second such exercise in less than a fortnight which comes at a time when terrorists have been carrying out targeted killings in the Valley.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
Ahead of a crucial meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and is believed to have discussed the security situation in the Union territory which has witnessed a spate of targeted killings since May 12.
According to the officials, fresh batches of pilgrims were not allowed to leave Jammu to embark on their yatra due to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
More than 4.5 lakh pilgrims paid their obeisance at the natural ice Shiva Lingam formation inside the cave shrine last year.
The home minister will also review the preparation for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage set to start on June 29.
Nehwal expressed gratitude to the J-K administration, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) and the security forces.
The Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu serves as the main base camp for the pilgrims from across the country.
The joint separatist camp, including Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik-led Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, has asked the people to march to Tral to pay tributes to Wani, who was killed in an encounter with security forces on this day last year.
Roshan Lal Suthar, a resident of Pansal Dhileara area of Rajasthan, was missing since Tuesday and his body was found near the lower Holy Cave, they said.
The Border Roads Organisation says it will complete restoration of the Amarnath Yatra track by June 15, 2023.
At least 16 people have been killed while 15,000 pilgrims, who were stranded near the Amarnath holy cave in Kashmir due to a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst, have been shifted to the lower base camp in Panjtarni, officials said on Saturday.
The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from Jammu to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
Ganderbal's Senior Superintendent of Police Nikhil Borkar accompanied by a team of senior officers inspected the Amarnath Yatra route from Baltal to the Shri Amarnath Cave temple in Ganderbal on Sunday.
A fresh batch of 6,162 pilgrims, including 1,360 women and 222 Sadhus on Monday left the winter capital for the twin base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam in Kashmir, officials said.
More than 40 food items have been banned at the upcoming Amarnath Yatra and the pilgrims have been advised to achieve physical fitness by walking at least 5 kilometres a day, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board said in its health advisory issued on Thursday.
Local people in Bijbehara defied curfew orders and rushed out to help a group of Amarnath pilgrims whose bus collided with a truck.
At least 15,000 pilgrims, who were stranded near the Amarnath holy cave in Jammu and Kashmir due to a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst, have been shifted to the lower base camp of Panjtarni, an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson said on Saturday.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held three back-to-back meetings with top officials of the security establishment to assess the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, including the recent killings of civilians, as well as reviewed arrangements for the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra for which the UT administration will provide RFID tags to every pilgrim.
The pilgrimage will be a big security challenge for the government as Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing a number of targeted killings by terrorists in recent weeks.
Kashmir continues to be paralysed for the third consecutive day in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on Friday.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of 4,890 pilgrims from the Jammu base camp.
The annual Amarnath Yatra began on Thursday as a batch of about 2,750 pilgrims left the base camp in Nunwan, Jammu-Kashmir, for the cave shrine housing the naturally formed ice-lingam in the south Kashmir Himalayas.
A rescue team recovered the body of Delhi resident Shailendra, 30, from the landslide-hit area along the Baltal route of the pilgrimage on Wednesday, a police official said.
Police have filed a case against the army personnel, an official said, adding that records kept at a police station were also damaged.
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