M A I N   N E W S

Shinde confirms terror threat to Amarnath yatra
Tribune News Service & PTI

Srinagar/New Delhi, June 19
With less than 10 days left for the start of the annual Amarnath yatra, the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government said there is a terror threat to the pilgrimage and that additional security forces were being deployed to provide safety.

"There is a terror threat to Amarnath Yatra," Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in New Delhi today. He said the government was taking precautions and sending additional forces to ensure safety and security of pilgrims visiting the 13,500-feet Himalayan cave shrine in south Kashmir. "All efforts will be made to ensure security of every pilgrim," he said. The yatra is due to commence on June 28.

Shinde's assessment came even as the Jammu and Kashmir Government declared the entire pilgrimage route as "highly prone" to terrorist attacks and directed security forces to augment their vigil. The Army had on Monday said it had received inputs that terrorists might try to disrupt the yatra.

The security arrangements for the yatra also came up for a detailed review during the Unified Headquarters meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.

"Considering the security scenario, topography of the yatra area, high potential of terrorist attacks on the yatris to create law and order situation throughout the state and the country, sensitive nature of the yatra, and the high publicity the yatra generates, the entire yatra area is highly prone to terrorist attacks," the J-K Home Department said in a circular to all agencies concerned.

The circular, issued last week, directed the Army, police and other security forces to take action as per their standard operating procedures in the matter to ensure safe pilgrimage.

Security agencies have been directed to carry out aerial surveillance of the yatra area and deploy spotters in adequate numbers at the camps.

Militants have struck thrice

• The J-K Government has declared the yatra route as "highly prone" to terrorist attacks and directed security forces to augment their vigil
• The Army had on Monday said it received inputs that terrorists might try to disrupt the yatra that commences on June 28
• The yatra has remained by and large peaceful, barring three militant strikes — one each in 2000, 2001 and 2002 — that left 36 pilgrims and 12 others dead
• Last year, around 6.2 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine