Wani shutdown call: Amarnath Yatra partially suspended

The annual Amarnath pilgrimage to South Kashmir Himalayas was partially suspended for a day in view of a separatist bandh call in the Valley to mark militant commander Burhan Wani’s third death anniversary on Monday.

“There was a shutdown. So pilgrim vehicles were not allowed from Jammu. However the yatris [pilgrims] who were at the Pahalgam [base] camp [in Anantnag] overnight, were allowed to move towards the cave shrine,” said Anantnag’s deputy commissioner, Khalid Jahangir.

Officials said the vehicles carrying the pilgrims back from Baltal, where the second base camp for the pilgrimage is located, and Pahalgam were allowed to travel to Jammu. They said more pilgrims would start leaving Jammu as usual for Pahalgam and Baltal on Tuesday.

According to official data, 36,309 pilgrims have so far left Jammu for the 48-day-long pilgrimage since its commencement on June 30. The pilgrims trek from Pahalgam and Baltal to the cave shrine of naturally formed ice-shivlingam. The pilgrimage will end on August 15.

In Kashmir, normal life was disrupted as restrictions were imposed on people’s movement in parts of the Valley to pre-empt any protests on Wani’s death anniversary. Wani was killed in a firefight with security forces along with two other Hizbul Mujahideen militants on July 8, 2016, in South Kashmir’s Kokernag area. His killing triggered protracted protests that left over 100 people dead.

Businesses, educational institutes, and markets remained closed in Srinagar and other district headquarters on the call of separatists under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership. Public transport movement was affected while attendance in government offices, too, was thin.

Security was beefed up across the Valley and outsiders were prevented from going to Wani’s hometown of Tral. “We deployed more troops so that people from outside do not assemble here [Tral],” said police superintendent Tahir Saleem. In Srinagar, restrictions were imposed on people’s movement in the old city. Mobile internet services were suspended in South Kashmir on Sunday. The internet speed was reduced in the rest of the Valley.