Over 8,000 pilgrims pray at Amarnath cave on Day 1

Srinagar: The annual pilgrimage to Amarnath officially began on Monday with 8,403 devotees paying obeisance at the cave-shine on the first day of the yatra.

The first batch of 6,884 pilgrims had earlier left for the revered place of worship from Baltal base camp and 1,241 from Pahalgam base camp, undertaking the arduous journey through rugged mountains.

Every year, the cave-shrine tucked away in the Kashmir Himalayas at a height of 12,729 feet draws devotees for the darshan of fully formed natural Shivling or ice-lingam of Lord Shiva inside the revered place of Hindu worship.

The first convoy of 93 vehicles carrying the pilgrims had reached Baltal and Pahalgam from Jammu’s Bhagwati Nagar base-camp on Sunday evening. Already, thousands of pilgrims were camping at Baltal and Nunwan, Chandanwari and others places in Pahalgam area to embark on the “journey of faith and devotion”.

Officials said that the second batch of 4,417 pilgrims left the winter capital for Baltal and Pahalgam on Monday morning. Over 150,000 pilgrims from across the country have so far registered themselves for this year’s yatra.

The Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) is expecting three to five lakh pilgrims during the 46-day-long yatra to be concluded on August 15, coinciding with Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan). Tight security arrangements have been made for the yatra. The officials said that apart from the deployments, a robust security cover has been put in place which includes satellite and chip-based tracking of vehicles and pilgrims along the yatra route, base-camps and halting stations to ensure a smooth and incident-free pilgrimage. Also drones, mobile bunker vehicles and road opening parties (ROPs) have been pressed into service for the purpose. The authorities said that the tight security arrangement has been necessitated by the prevailing law and order situation in Kashmir and past attacks carried out allegedly by militants against the pilgrims or the security forces.

But prominent separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani termed it a “false alarm”. They reiterated on Monday that the Amarnath pilgrims were “most welcome” in Kashmir.

The J&K government has, as part of “foolproof arrangement” for the smooth conduct of the event, involved almost all its departments and agencies in it. The local Muslims have, on the other hand, set up hundreds of makeshift eateries and tea-stalls besides free langars laid by outside voluntary groups at Baltal and Chandanwari and at Nunwun which is three kilometres short of Pahalgam and also at other halting places en-route the save-shrine. Hundreds of ponywallas and porters have also moved in to serve the pilgrims. Tent cities have already come up at Baltal and Nunwan.

Last year, 2,85,006 pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave-shrine, while the number stood at 3,52,771 in 2015, 3,20,490 in 2016 and 2,60,003 in 2017.

The SASB officials said that the pilgrimage began with ‘pratham darshan’ and “pooja”’ rituals at the shrine on Monday morning “to invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva for the smooth and safe conduct of the pilgrimage”.

Among others, the rituals were attended by governor Satya Pal Malik, who is also the chairman of the SASB. A spokesman of the board said that Mr Malik paid obeisance at the Sanctum Sanctorum during which and also while participating in ‘pratham pooja’ he prayed for “sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity” in the state. He was accompanied by CEO of the board Umang Narula.

“The governor lauded the people of Kashmir for making this annual pilgrimage a successful event ever since it is being observed. Appreciating the valuable support of local people in conduct of the yatra, he described their role as a true essence of Kashmiriyat which is exemplary for its communal harmony,” the spokesman said.

The cave-shrine, the holiest of Hindu places of worship in north India, is at a one-day trek (14-km) from the base-camp of Baltal, 96-km north of summer capital Srinagar, and at three-day trek (34-km) from Chandanwari. Pahalgam, the premier resort of the Valley, is 94-km south-east of Srinagar and 280-km east of Jammu.