Against the backdrop of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir, the Army has decided not to take any chance during the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. More than 14,000 security personnel from the Army, paramilitary and the local police will be deployed all along the 300-km pilgrimage route. This strength is more than double the number last year. The yatra will begin on June 29 and culminate on August 7.
As major part of the yatra — a “high visibility” event in terms of magnitude of people from all over the country taking part in the pilgrimage —passes through south Kashmir, which is now witnessing stone pelting and terrorists attacking security forces.
The Army and paramilitary are engaged in a massive exercise to ensure an incident-free pilgrimage.
Admitting that providing protection to lakhs of people congregating during the yatra was a “huge challenge,” officials said here on Saturday. The Army plans to deploy two battalions (one battalion has 1,000 soldiers) along the sensitive sectors of the route.
Moreover, the paramilitary, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF), proposed to deploy more than 100 companies (one company has 100 personnel), they said.
Last year, the number of companies deployed was nearly half of the planned, underlining the “heightened threat perception to the high profile event,” officials said.
While the Army provides “prophylactic security,” the paramilitary and the local police will ensure security of the pilgrims and the route through which the yatra passes, they said.
Explaining the meaning of “prophylactic” security, they said the Army battalions will provide cover from a distance as the Jammu & Kashmir Police is the lead agency for security of the yatra.
The security forces, including the Army and paramilitary, will also step up search operations in the coming weeks before the yatra begins to flush terrorists out of their hideouts in the villages in restive south Kashmir and force them to move to forests, the officials added. It is easier for the Army to go after terrorists in forests as the forces do not have to worry about collateral damage, they added.
Elaborating on the concept of “prophylactic” measures, sources said the Army conducts area domination drills on both sides of the route to prevent terrorists prowling in to attack the pilgrims. This exercise is more preventive in nature, said they, adding all the stakeholders to perform security duty according to laid down procedures and zones of responsibility.
J&K Governor NN Vohra held the first meeting for co-ordination of this massive exercise on Friday in Srinagar and more such sessions will take place in the coming days to firm up the security grid. Additional companies of paramilitary and Army battalions will start moving in their defined sectors a fortnight before the yatra commences, officials said.
The annual pilgrimage has not seen any untoward incident in the last one decade or so, they said, adding terrorists had last targeted the yatra in 2003 and 2007. Given the scale of the event, livelihood of more than one lakh local traders and pony owners of the State depends on the yatra.
The local business and pony owners suffered great losses last year as the yatra was affected in the wake of mass protests after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in July. About three lakh yatris could visit the holy Amarnath shrine though the administration had expected that more than five lakhs will come, they said.
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