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| Amarnath Yatra - an example of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood | | |
early times report
Srinagar, June 4: With more than six lakh tourists visiting the place this year so far, tourism has touched new heights in the Valley and all this is a dividend of the prevailing peace. From high end tourist facilities to the middle class catering hotels, restaurants, houseboat owners, taxi operators and those dealing with the handicrafts trade the people are earning an honest living.
The state administration has been trying to ensure that the prevailing peace holds so that this year's Amarnath Yatra and the present tourist season ends normally.
There have been attempts to derail the present peace with stray incidents of stone pelting etc. The separatist elements have been trying to stoke regional and religious passions to disturb the situation which all said and done has always remained fragile.
Last year around 6.75 lakh Yatris performed the Yatra to the Amarnath Cave Shrine and given the encouraging signs it is likely that the number of Yatris this year would far outnumber those who came here last year. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) authorities have said that the south Kashmir Pahalgam and the north Kashmir Baltal routes to the Holy Cave are still snow bound. This has been the logic for the state administration to stop those who wanted to start the Yatra ahead of the SASB schedule.
Due to an unprecedented winter this year, the facilities erected by the SASB at Baltal base camp were damaged by massive avalanches and these are in the process of being created again. The administration has started route clearance operations on a war footing on both the south and the north Kashmir routes.
The safety of the Yatris should be the chief concern for the authorities of the SASB and also the state administration, but it also needs to be ensured that the efforts being made to clear the twin routes are visible beyond the official files. It is important to ensure that a hassle free Yatra takes place this year and no loss of life occurs because of the vagaries of nature to which the high altitude routes have been historically vulnerable.
For the first time the SASB has decided that a health fitness certificate must accompany the Yatris so that precious lives are not lost during the Holy journey. Last year more than 200 Yatris died during the Yatra because of health related problems which were undoubtedly directly connected with old age.
The security cover being provided to the Yatra is three tier and it entails deployments of heavily armed contingents of the army, paramilitary and the local police. But, the most important feature of the Amarnath Yatra has been that thousands of local Muslims have been directly associated with the conduct of the Yatra. Not only has the annual Yatra been providing livelihood to those locals who directly engage with the Holy journey and provide facilities and help to the Yatris, the pilgrimage has been sustained by the goodwill of the Muslim population in the Valley.
This has been the main reason that despite their worst efforts the anti-social elements and miscreants have not succeeded in disturbing the passage of the pilgrims to the Himalayan cave Shrine located high up in the Kashmir mountains.
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