Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 09 July 2018 | Page 16
P I LG R IM ’ S PROGR ESS
by Naseer Ganai in
Srinagar
PTI
S
WIRED Helmet-mounted
cameras provide live feed to a
hub in a nearby army camp
OLDIERS with came
vehicles from straying from
ras mounted on helm
the main route.
ets and assault rifles
The elite counter-terrorism
slung from shoulders
force, National Security Guards
line up along the serp
(NSG), has also been deployed,
entine road through
to be flown to any place where
the Valley. UAVs (unmanned
they are needed. The personnel
aerial vehicles) whiz about,
will also
acc
ompany Z-plus
their cameras fixed on the
category VVIPs to the cave
road below, while more sol
shrine. The force was first
diers zip past on bikes. The
deployed in the Valley in 1989,
road leads to the fabled
when the then home minister
Amar
nath temple, where
Mufti Moha
mmed Sayeed’s
Lord Shiva is believed to
daughter, Dr Rubaiya Sayeed,
have revealed the secrets of
was held hostage by militants of
life to his consort Parvati.
the Jammu Kashmir Liberation
‘Security’ has been the buzz
Front. However, the NSG was
word for the annual Amar
not put to use and five imp
nath Yatra in Kashmir ever
risoned Kashmiri mil
itants
since the armed insurgency
were set free instead to secure
broke out in Kashmir in 1989,
her release.
but security arrangements
This year, when former top
for this year’s pilgrimage
cop K. Vijay Kumar, advisor to
that began on June 27 is unp
Governor N.N. Vohra, said the
recedented and mammoth.
threat perception to the yatra
Clearly, this is not about just
could not be taken lightly,
a pilgrimage. It is also the
Kashmiri leaders described it
BJP-led government at the
as a malicious campaign and a
Centre sending out a message
“calculated move aimed at
to the party’s core voters
maligning and discrediting a
ahead of the general elections
political struggle”. “People in
next year. Coming just days
Decoding the unprecedented buzz
Kashmir are continuing with
after the BJP pulled out of its
the age-old tradition of pro-
alliance with the PDP, accus-
around Amarnath Yatra 2018
viding the best hospitality to
ing it of being “soft on terror”,
pilgrims,” says octogenarian
this yatra is loaded with more
An army officer said camera-fitted Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
than the usual dose of political symbol-
ism. A common view among Kashmiri helmets have been provided only four “They have always been friendly and
leaders is that the BJP is deliberately days ago for the yatra route, especially generous to visitors, especially to
projecting the yatra as being under the Srinagar-Anantnag highway where Amarnath pilgrims.”
Describing the pilgrimage as a “part of
threat from militants so it can later eight pilgrims were killed and nearly 20
claim credit for having ensured pilgrims’ wounded in a militant attack last year. Kashmir’s ethos”, former minister and
Connected with a hub at a nearby army PDP leader Naeem Akhtar says “the best
safety by beefing up security.
Besides Kashmiri separatist and mai camp, the cameras provide live cover- security to the yatra comes from this
nstream leaders, Hizbul Mujahideen age of the area through which the per- ethos”, though it was “violated by some
commander Riyaz Naikoo too has ann sonnel move. “Yesterday, we provided mercenaries” who attacked the yatra
ounced that Amarnath pilgrims are live recording of a road accident to the last year. “Since 1990, the size of the
yatra has been only increasing, and
“guests in Kashmir” and face no threat. police,” says a soldier.
Around 100 CCTV cameras with live whenever any assistance was needed,
Earlier, in a video widely circulated ahead
of the 2016 yatra, the then Hizbul com- web streaming have been installed on Kashmiris were the first to come for-
mander Burhan Wani said, “We have no the traditional routes to the shrine loc ward,” says Akhtar.
Ahead of the yatra, at Srinagar’s Raj
plan and will never attack pilgrims who ated at an altitude of 13,000-feet.
arrive in Kashmir for Amarnath Yatra.” Vehicles carrying devotees have been Bhavan, army chief General Bipin Rawat
Burhan was killed by government forces fitted with radio-frequency identifica- briefed defence minister Nirmala Sitha
barely a month later, on July 8, 2016, tion tags, enabling security forces to raman about the resumption of counter-
triggering a spate of violent protests that keep track of their movements. insurgency operations in the Valley since
Motorcycle squads will prevent yatra the end of the Ramzan ceasefire. O
raged for months across the Valley.
Sacred Heights
of Security
16 OUTLOOK 9 July 2018