Over 5 lakh pilgrims expected, security forces on their toes for Amarnath Yatra

Besides the Jammu & Kashmir Police and the Army, more than 250 companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed in Kashmir Valley alone, said officials.

While security officials said there is no specific intelligence input about any threat to the 52-day pilgrimage, they added that the enhanced electronic surveillance coupled with a multi-layer security deployment was necessitated by the recent militant attack on a pilgrim bus in Jammu’s Reasi.

“There is no relevant input as such but you can’t rule out anything,” said a senior police officer. “The sudden spike in violence, especially in Jammu, indicates that terrorists might try some misadventure. If they can attack the pilgrim bus, they can try something similar again.”

On June 10, militants attacked a bus carrying pilgrims to the Shivkhori temple in Jammu’s Reasi. One of the bullets hit the driver, who lost control of the bus. The vehicle plunged into a gorge, killing nine pilgrims.

This was part of a series of incidents of militancy in Jammu this year. While the focus for security forces in previous years was to secure the highways in Kashmir, the Jammu violence has meant that they have to focus on covering a larger area.

“In the past, our focus was from Qazigund (the gateway to the Valley in South Kashmir) to the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps (in South and Central Kashmir, respectively). It was a total road length of around 300 km on both stretches (Qazigund to Pahalgam and Qaziguind to Baltal),” said another police officer. “But now, we have to secure more than double the road length, right from Samba and Kathua in Jammu to Baltal and Pahalgam in the Valley. The terrain of the highway from Udhampur to Banihal makes it more challenging for the security agencies.”

Officials also said that security agencies have barred individual or isolated pilgrim movement in the Valley or along the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The administration has also announced cut-off timings for pilgrim movement.

“The guidelines above the movement of the pilgrims and their convoys would be strictly followed so that the pilgrims remain under constant watch of the security forces,” a paramilitary officer said. “There are clear instructions not to allow any movement of pilgrims or even tourists after the cut-off timings announced by the government. This will help us to provide better security.”

“The footage from the CCTV cameras is being monitored in real time at the control room. If the control rooms find any suspicious movement, the nearest security unit would be intimated in real time to prevent any untoward incident,” said a police officer.