Wani death anniv: Yatra suspended from Jammu

The Amarnath yatra was suspended from Jammu today due to law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley under curfew for the death anniversary of militant commander Burhan Wani.

Authorities clamped curfew in three towns, including Tral in Kashmir, and imposed restrictions on the movement of people in the rest of the valley.

“The yatra has been been suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu due to law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley,” a senior police officer said. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in strength across Kashmir to handle any security challenge.

The number of pilgrims paying obeisance at ice lingum of Lord Shiva at the 3,880-metre high cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas has crossed the one-lakh mark as over 1.15 lakh devotees had darshan at the shrine. The yatra is continuing from Baltal and Pahalgam base camps.

A total of 25,294 pilgrims and sadhus have left Jammu for Amarnath in eight batches since the yatra began.

Nine people including a security officer have died in the ongoing Amarnath pilgrimage.

“As many as 1,15,841 pilgrims have had darshan at the cave shrine since the beginning of the yatra,” an official spokesman said.

Amid multi-tier security, the 40-day long yatra began from Jammu on June 28 as the first batch of pilgrims left for twin base-camps of 3,888-metre high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.

The yatra in Kashmir began amid a terror threat, according to an intelligence warning which has prompted the authorities to mobilise the “highest level” of security measures, including satellite tracking system.