Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
There are two tracks to undertake this journey;
1.Jammu, Srinagar, Sonamarg, Baltal, and then Main Cave. The people can take this pilgrimage in a single day. This is very difficult and hilly terranious in nature.
2.The other track is the main track and all sort of facilities are available in this track route. Largely people take up this track. The people can reach Srinagar by air or by road and onward journey is taken by parts and halts and the distance of one place to the next is as under;
Jammu to Srinagar 300 kilometers motorable.
Srinagar to Anantnag 70 kilometers motorable.
Anantnag to Pahalgam 30 kilometers motorable.
Pahalgam to Chandanwari 18 kilometers motorable.
Chandanwari to Sheshnag 16 kilometers on foot.
Sheshnag to Mahagunas top 10 kilometers on foot.
Mahagunas Top to Panjtarni 11 kilometers on foot.
Panjtarni to Main Cave site 7 kilometers on foot.
The Base Camp of this pilgrimage is Pahalgam. The first night halt of the pilgrimage is at Sheshnag, second Panjtarni, and on third day pilgrims pay their reverence at the Cave and return back. Total on foot journey is 44 kilometers.
The Yatra has remained in lime light for the past some years because of some ugly incidents, which has brought the number of visiting pilgrims down than the average.
“The Government banned the Amarnath Yatra from 1991 to 1996 due to threats from militants. The failure of the administration in providing adequate security cover was taken as anti Hindu attitude of the administration.
It was resumed in 1996, but there was unusually heavy snowfall along with severe blizzards along the Yatra route. Nearly 242 Yatris lost their lives due to exhaustion, exposure, freezing etc. leading to constitution of a committee under Dr. Nitish Sengupta, a retired IAS officer, to inquire various aspects of the tragedy and suggest measures and remedies to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.
In May 2008 Forest Land Transfer in favour of Shri Amaranth Shrine Board created a controversy, which was opposed by Kashmir Valley by way of demonstrations claiming dozen people dead and 100 injured in the Valley. This compelled the government to revoke the transfer of land. To oppose the decision to revoke the land transfer, Jammu resorted to 61 days agitation with scores of deaths, injuries, burning of property of a particular community. The outcome of the protests culminated in favour of Kashmir Valley with nothing to the Jammuites demand. The political motive behind this agitation in Jammu of particular party was achieved.
Clashes at Amarnath Camp in Baltal in 2014. Clash of two groups of service providers entered into a scuffle over hosting a group of pilgrimages. More than a hundred tents and four community kitchens (Langars) were set ablaze by the warring groups and 59 persons including 12 CRPF men and nine policemen were injured. The role of police was widely condemned with the remarks of some pilgrims that ‘Hooligans ransacked the Langars and torched them and also thrashed Yatris as the police and local administration looked like a mute spectator”. The gruesome incident was not allowed to go to the public domain owing to the reason of BJP alliance with PDP, otherwise this would have taken to streets of whole of India to achieve political goal by a particular political party.
During 2015, the Yatra was targetted to inflict loss of lives and it came to fore when militants attacked a CRPF convoy vehicle at Narsoo about 15 Kms. away from Udhampur.
If we analyse the outcome of various incidents which took place during Yatra and other conflicting matters leading to demonstrations and agitations both in the Valley as well as in Jammu, one can easily conclude that the Yatra is not tolerated in the Valley owing to its Hindu character, forgetting that its re-discovery and prominence is attributed to a Gujjar shepherd namely Buta Malik.
(Concluded)
