Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR /JAMMU, July 14: Undeterred by the recent terror attack, more than 4,000 pilgrims left for the Amarnath cave shrine from here today, officials said.
The numbers have been steadily going up since July 10, when seven Amarnath pilgrims, including six women, were killed and 19 injured in a terror attack in Anantnag district.
On the day of the terror attack, 2,430 pilgrims left Jammu for the high altitude cave shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva. This went up to 3,289 pilgrims the next day, 3,500 on July 12 and 3,791 on July 13. Today’s number went up to 4,105.
Escorted by the CRPF and police, the batch consisting of 3,111 men, 892 women and 102 sadhus and sadhvis, left in a convoy of 191 vehicles for Baltal and Pahalgam base camps this morning, officials said.
The yatris housed at Bhagwati Nagar base camp here vowed to undertake the journey to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva at the shrine without caring for the terror threats.
Their enthusiasm was evident in the loud chants of ‘Bam Bam Bhole’.
“My family told me return back to home after terror attack on pilgrims. But I told them I will return home only after performing darhsan at Amarnath whether alive or dead. I don’t care about the threat. Lord Shiva will take care of that,” said Kumar Raja from Chennai.
Chander Mohan from Madhya Pradesh echoed his sentiment. “We will perform pilgrimage and only after that will return home. These threats and attacks cannot deter us,” he said.
A total of 46,630 pilgrims have left Jammu for Amarnath in 15 batches since the 40-day-long yatra began from Jammu on June 28.
So far 1,86,853 pilgrims have performed darshan at holy cave since the yatra started on June 29. On the 16th day of darshan today 9,719 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave. The majority of pilgrims who performed darshan in the cave shrine have returned to their home states while others are on their way.
Over 5000 pilgrims left for holy cave early this morning from twin base camps of Nunwan, Pahalgam in South Kashmir district of Anantnag and Baltal, Sonamarg in Central Kashmir district of Ganderbal.
Among them 2450 pilgrims left from Baltal Base camp via shortest Domel track while 3234 left from Nunwan via traditional Chandanwari track for holy cave. The pilgrims having night halt at halting stations of Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for their onwards sojourn, official sources said.
Sources said there is heavy rush of pilgrims from both the tracks and thousands of yatris are daily reaching the two base camps for their onwards sojourn. Besides, a large number of pilgrims continue to reach Jammu to seek their registration for the pilgrimage of Swami Amarnath daily, sources added.
The Government has mobilised a heavy security blanket of over 35,000 to 40,000 troops including the police, the Army, the BSF and the CRPF.
This year’s yatra will be eight days shorter than last year’s and will conclude on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 7.
Follow our WhatsApp channel