The Rajasthan police is interrogating some suspects, including pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin, in connection with the blast at the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer where Friday prayers will go ahead as scheduled. Some suspects are being interrogated since Thursday night but no arrests have been made in connection with the blast which claimed two lives and left 17 injured, a senior official said.
Citing the example of last year, he said many pilgrims who came for the yatra from rural areas of Uttar Pradesh had to return from Rishikesh and Haridwar as they had not registered in advance for it.
The Supreme Court on Monday imposed an interim stay on directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display names of owners.
Pakistani authorities have cut short the visit of Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal city of Punjab province due to the security situation, days after the killing of two abducted Sikhs by the Taliban in the restive northwestern tribal belt.
Four pilgrims and an Army jawan have died of cardiac arrest en route to the Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir, taking the death toll in the ongoing yatra to 37, officials said on Friday. The jawan, identified as Naik Sant Lal, a resident of Haryana, collapsed during patrolling in Brarimarg area along the Baltal-cave route, the officials said. Lal was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Over 1.38 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas since the pilgrimage started on June 10.
Hundreds of Indian pilgrims have been stranded in Nepal on their way to Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet as Chinese authorities stopped them at the border entry point saying that their vehicles did not have route permit.
The pilgrims will have to pay Rs.20,000 as air fare this time, which is Rs 4000 more than that last year. Besides one of 21 embarkation points -- Patna -- has been replaced by Gaya this time due to certain technical difficulties.
Six more Amarnath pilgrims died en route to the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, taking the toll during this year's pilgrimage to 67, officials said.
The accident occurred late on Friday, district collector K V Muralidharan said.
The Sikhs arrived by special trains to Lahore, capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, on Wednesday and will stay for a week. The pilgrims will visit various temples in the country.
About 200 Hindu pilgrims cancelled a proposed visit to a temple in Pakistan on Saturday after they were asked by the authorities to go to the trouble-torn country at their own risk.
Evacuation of stranded people from flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand on Saturday picked up pace with security forces rescuing 17 foreign tourists from Dharasu and sighting 1000 pilgrims stuck between Kedarnath and Gaurikund, even as bad weather hampered chopper operations at some places.
Five army personnel were killed and six injured on Monday when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.
The Indian Sikhs were in Pakistan to to participate in the celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. They met Sharif, who's father hails from Jati Umra, a village near Amritsar, at his home in Lahore.
Amid the global scare following the outbreak of swine flu, Saudi Arabia has asked Haj pilgrims to provide health certificate showing that they have received flu shots two weeks prior to their departure for the holy sites in the country, health ministry said.
The Travancore Devaswom Board that governs the affairs of Sabarimala has been entrusted to form an expert committee to come up with a detailed project report for transforming Sabarimala into a national pilgrimage.
Shattered and still tense from their harrowed experience, over 100 pilgrims reached in Chandigarh on Friday on two state owned buses from flood ravaged areas around the Sikh shrine of Hemkunt Sahib in Uttarakhand.
'The BJP is not as mighty a political force in Odisha as it is made out to be.'
January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
The consulate officials said the two were in good health and their relatives have been informed of their impending release. The case has shocked hundreds of expat families in the Kingdom.
Sooraj, hailing from Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district, was one of the main accused in the incident which took place on Tuesday when the hill shrine was opened for the two-day-long "Chithira Atta Thirunal," a special ritual.
More flights will be added from India to Saudi Arabia this year.
Twenty-three Shia pilgrims, including women, returning from Iran were killed on Tuesday when a powerful bomb blast hit a bus in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan.
In the backdrop of protests being faced by Sri Lankan pilgrims in Tamil Nadu, the island nation's government is arranging a special plane to take them back home on Tuesday. "We get reports that some people follow the pilgrims' groups, intimidate, abuse and even attack them with stones," Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner R K M A Rajakaruna said.
Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and 16 others injured when a truck carrying them plunged into a deep gorge in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir late on Thursday night.
The Light and Sound show at Jyotisar, Sri Krishna Museum and Panorama Science Centres in Kurukshetra also remained open throughout the night for the convenience of the tourists.
The electoral battle in Varanasi, according to locals and political experts, is not about whether the PM will win for a third successive occasion, but if he will increase his share of the votes polled and his win margin.
The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh will launch the first train carrying Hindus on an officially sponsored free pilgrimage to Haridwar and Rishilesh on March 14.
Modi brought up the emotive issue of the gurdwara in Kartarpur Sahib, a place sacred to Sikhs as Guru Nanak Dev spent the last years of his life there, and blamed the Congress for country's partition, saying they did it for sake of power.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal on Wednesday warned that they will not allow pilgrims to reach the Ajmer Dargah, where the annual Urs has begun, unless the Jammu and Kashmir government withdraws its latest order revoking the transfer of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.Bajrang Dal Rajasthan unit's convenor Mahendra Singh Meena said that Hindu activists of the saffron outfits would block buses carrying pilgrims in Rajasthan during the two-day bandh.
NDRF director general Atul Karwal told PTI that the teams are undertaking continuous familiarisation exercises and conducting simulation drills in the temple town to respond to any contingency.
Nearly 1,000 pilgrims are stranded in various areas of Garhwal following a series of landslides in Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to pave the passage from Panchtarni to Amarnath holy cave with pre-fabricated cement tiles to ensure that pilgrims do not slip on the way.
Specially designed coaches for adverse weather conditions have been inducted for rail travel in Kashmir Valley.
