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| Unsung and Unheard, the Army's role in Amarnath Yatra | | | Saahil Suhail
The Amarnath Yatra is organized every year during the month of sharavan (July and August); the dates depend on the weather conditions and according to Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) in the month of Sharavan (Vikrama Samwat). Yatra to Baba Amarnath Holy Cave for which one has to trek a height of about 14,500 ft is full of thrill and joy .The feeling of divine which is always beneath ones' heart ,burst out and one realises 'Moksha' as one visits the Cave and perform the prayer before the Shivling . Surrounded by beautiful valleys, mountains , one will always feel his presence on the paradise of the earth, the memory of which hardly vanishes with time A journey which will rediscover the nature and its love which is always inside but one has never felt. The temple exists for last 5,000 years and is worshiped every year by lakhs of devotees across from India and also by devotees belonging to other countries and religions. Cave is located at a height of 14,000 feet. Pilgrims visit this temple on foot or take the journey on horseback via Phalgam and Baltal track; however traditional route is via Phalgam. The traditional route to holy Amarnath cave is the southern route from Chnadanwari to the Holy cave via Sheshnag, is a grueling trek of 34 km's. As the whole valley receives snow in winter the route remains closed for almost 9 months. Before the commencement of Annual Amarnath Yatra, Armyopens the route to deploy its troops in the region. Army play an important role during this period because of the security concerns in the region and ensures smooth conduct of Amarnath Yatra with other Security Forces especially Border Security Forces. During this period Army continues it's patrolling to higher and higher snow covered peaks of Holy Cave and other mountains, keeping eagle's eye on activities of Gujjar Backarwals in the upper reaches, as a militant with an intention to attack Amarnath Yatar can only survive on the food provided to him by Gujjar Bakerwal People. Army continuously keeps a close contact with those people and provides them basic needs of life including medical amenities. The daily influx of the yatries is up to 10,000 people and additional 5,000Poter & ponies keeping these factors in mind that route is dominated by piquet's of Army on the higher reaches of mountains like Saskat and Kistwar ridges. The battalion this year deployed far Amarnath Yatra is 4 Madras (WLI) under the agies of 1 Sector Rashtriya Rifles is doing a condemnable job by continuously patrolling the heights astride the Amarnath route. The battalion is deployed in 15 posts spread on distance of 30 km'sin difficult terrain and weather conditions
The Army has undertaken various measures for smooth conduct of Yatra, which have now, became indispensable to the Yatries and earned a good name for Indian Army, by providing different kinds of assistance to Yatries and by conducting humanitarian operation, as the Yatries face various problems owing to slushy track, high altitude and tiring trek during the pilgrimage. Under the guidance of GOC Victor Force and Cdr 1 Sector RR, Army conducts humanitarian operations for rescue of everyone in the region as well as for Yatries in the extreme weather conditions.Army has installed medical camps at every stop from Phalgam to holy cave in order to provide medical care to Yatries. This year with a big improvement in the medical aid camps army has also installed automatic oxygen generating machines that automatically generates oxygen from atmosphere on higher and higher reaches, because the Yatries face a deficiency of oxygen at various spots like Sheshnag, MG Top and Panjtarni. Besides this armymedical aid camps are equipped with other machines and medicines. For instance Miss Nirmala Devi(18 yrs old) suffering from high BP and breathiness was evacuated from Mahagunas pass by Army and put on medical instruments before being sent to District Hospital, thereby saving her life. The these medical aid camps are working around the clock treating 250-400 patients every day from morning to late midnight at every post. Yatries facing headache, chest pain, and vomiting, swelling, and skin infection frost bite are also being treated in those medical aid camps. While the Jawans of Indian army also keep moving from one post to another with aim to provide physical help to those yatires, who got tired because of continuous walking.
Army all along the route has also established public address systems and by these systems camp announcement are made for the Yatries walas. For instance, a 4 years old female child namely Muskaan Daughter of Dhramveer, resident of Faridabad, Haryana was found unattended at Nagakoti on 26th of June by Army Jawans.
The child was taken in safe custody by Army and by using the public address system the grief stricken parents were able to take back their child. Besides carrying out humanitarian operation and providing a sense of security among the Yatries, Army has shown foresightedness in planning and catering for any unforeseen event. The army has catered for food, accommodation, bedding and warm clothing in case of any disaster to accommodate more than 1600 Yatries all along the route. On the very first day of Yatra, due to bad weather s 400 yatires were stranded between Zajipal and Sheshnag. They were resued by army and evacted on stretchers thereby saving their lives. The people are extremely happy that the Indian Army has setup sufficient toilets especially for ladies at their post, setup mobile charging points; hot water for yaties as drinking cold water in this region could be harmful for the yatri when he has covered a long distance. Army has also installed boards on the route at various spots indicating the land sliding prone areas . also the boards communicates a global message to all people like don't use polythene.
Army is also playing a great role in maintaining law and order and communal harmony by conducting regular meetings of Ponney wallas, tent owners and Langer walas, wherein issue related to rates and other things or sorted out. These things have fostered a feeling of reliance on the Armyamongst the Yatries as well as Locals associated with the Yatra, and to this effect the Army has never led them down while ensuring syner-gized working with other security agencies. |
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