Holy Amarnath Yatra begins; being held after three years
The annual 43-day Amarnath Yatra, to the Amarnath Cave shrine—actually an ice stalagmite shaped like a shivling—in Kashmir, began yesterday after a gap of three years.
It was not held in the last two years due to the pandemic, and the 2019 pilgrimage was cut short on August 5, the day the government made Article 370 inoperative in the state, which had made it a special status region, and divided the state up into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Security has been tightened following threats from militant groups, with scores of new bunkers built along the entire route and high-tech gadgets set up for round-the-clock surveillance. At least 23 Hindus have been killed in rebel attacks in the last three years, seven of them in just the last six months.
The top leaders of all the state parties have assured of their full cooperation for the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who will make the 350-km (220 miles) difficult trek up the mountain route to the cave at an altitude of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet).
