Lakhs of pilgrims are arriving in Kamakhya, the most important Shakti shrine and tantric centre in the country located in the Assam capital, as it celebrates Ambubachi mela from June 22 to 25, coinciding with the mythical annual menstrual period of Mother Earth. For the Government, however, the festival is more of a security headache than a religious tourism event, especially with the temple having some serious threat perception from the ULFA and some Islamic groups.“Kamakhya is definitely on our security agenda,” said Guwahati City additional SP Debajit Deuri, pointing out that the arrival of a large number of devotees, especially from outside the state, always increases the security risk of the temple.Pilgrims in fact have arrived in such large numbers that over 25,000 of them are staying in the Kamakhya railway station in the Nilachal foothills, causing additional concern for both the police as well as the railways.The police have deployed a bomb disposal squad and a squad of sniffer dogs apart from mobile patrols by policemen in uniform and in plain clothes , the additional SP said. Though militants have never caused any problem during the Ambubachi mela, Kamakhya has a history of incidents related to militancy. A Colonel and a couple of other Army personnel had fallen to ULFA bullets here in the late 90s.
