Preparations on for Amarnath Yatra, schedule intact, says government

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi/Jammu, June 3

Reviewing the security situation amid a spate of targeted killings in Kashmir, the government today maintained that Amarnath Yatra would be held as per schedule between June 30 and August 11. In Jammu and Kashmir, officials are busy keeping an eye on security arrangements besides ensuring other facilities for pilgrims On soft-target killings in the Valley, sources in the government said “these would stop and there were ways of doing this as was done in October 2021.”

‘There are ways to stop Terror activities’

• Sources in the government say targeted killings will stop and there are ways of doing this, as was done in October 2021.
• The killings are aimed at derailing the pilgrimage, claim sources.

Holding Pakistan-sponsored terrorists responsible for the killings, “aimed at derailing the Amarnath Yatra”, sources said the government won’t be deterred.

Over 2.5 lakh pilgrims have already got themselves registered for the pilgrimage which was halted in 2020 owing to Covid and is being resumed this year.

The sources ruled out transferring Kashmiri Hindus to Jammu, saying the government could not facilitate ethnic cleansing of Pandits in a repeat of 1990 and was shifting them to safety within the Valley. The clarification came as a section of Kashmiri Hindus left Kashmir.

Around 5,500 out of 6,000 Hindu employees, part of the PM package, have been relocated and more are being shifted to safety, government sources said, adding they “would not be deterred from the path of Kashmir’s development and integration, the only way forward.”

The current cycle of violence follows a record 10 lakh tourist arrivals in the Valley between January and May.

Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Army Chief Manoj Pande and others.

Sources said targeted killings revealed that the ability to strike at protected targets had shrunk which was why soft targets were being killed.

“Last October, we saw a similar thing (killings). It stopped later. We will stop these killings. But we can’t feed into the narrative that only a select few can run Kashmir as in old times when jobs, contracts and land were all put on sale. Today everything is merit-based and transparent and vested interests are desperate,” sources said in a veiled reference to past governments. They said elections in J&K would happen as per Election Commission schedules, ruling out the delimitation process as a factor in the current Kashmir scenario.

In J&K, officials, apart from overseeing security arrangements, are also ensuring facilities like health, sanitation, etc. Kathua Deputy Commissioner Rahul Pandey today chaired a meeting with SSP and other officials to review the arrangements.

Udhampur DC Krittika Jyotsna, at a recent meeting with officials and representatives of religious groups, took stock of arrangements and security. On June 1, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Pandurang K Pole undertook an extensive tour of Ganderbal and inspected preparedness for the pilgrimage via Baltal route.

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