Jammu, March 13
The Vaishnodevi pilgrimage was resumed this afternoon as the weather improved with a bright sun after three days of incessant rain. However, the chill due to fresh snow in the area failed to dampen the spirits of the pilgrims who were waiting for resumption of the "yatra" since yesterday when it was suspended following death of five persons due to extreme cold.

Nearly 5000 pilgrims, stranded at various points on the trek route, were rescued and brought back to the base camp at Katra.

The 13 persons hospitalised at Adhkunwari on the trek route to the cave shrine were brought to Katra as the rain stopped. Two of them are children.

More than 20,000 pilgrims on their way to the cave shrine were stopped at Katra as it was raining in the morning and the authorities were in no mood to expose them to risk.

The registration counter at Katra started functioning in the afternoon after Governor S.K.Sinha, who is Chairman of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, visited there and took stock of the arrangements. He also visited the hospital to meet those who were suffering from hypothermia.

Pilgrims started growing restive as the authorities refused to allow them to proceed towards the shrine. The gates at the Darshani Deori at the Banganga were shut and army and police personnel were deployed there to prevent anyone from going towards the shrine 13 km uphill.

The Governor expressed shock and grief over the death of four pilgrims due to hypothermia and one due to cardiac arrest and said Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board will assist in transporting the bodies to their home towns.

Jammu, March 13
Ice stands broken.The storm seems to be over.It is evident from the participation of PDP Cabinet ministers in a specially convened disaster management meeting by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad here today to review the situation emerging out of unprecedented snowfall,rain and landslides which had disrupted power,water supply and road communication in Jammu and Kashmir.

Since February 28 the PDP ministers had boycotted two Cabinet meetings convened by the Chief Minister.The PDP leadership had stated that its ministers stayed away from the meetings because the Chief Minister had not acknowledged a letter sent by leader of the legislature party of the PDP Abdul Aziz Zargar to him requesting him to convene a special meeting for a discussion on the PDP demand for the withdrawal of troops and for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Commenting on a question whether the ice has been broken by attending the meeting convened by the Chief Minister, a Cabinet minister,belonging to the PDP,told this correspondent today, "There was no ice between the alliance partners." To another question whether the crisis has been defused he said, "Where was the crisis ?"

He said three out of four PDP ministers had attended today's meeting.The fourth minister,finance minister Tariq Hameed Qarra,could not attend the meeting because he was not well.

Informed sources said the two sides had softened their postures against each other.While the PDP leadership felt satisfied over the assurance from the Centre that withdrawal of troops would take place in a phased manner,the Congress had mellowed down its posture as a result of its belated realisation that the Congress-headed government might not be stable with the support of the National Conference because in the Opposition party a big section of the NC legislators was against the support.

National Conference sources said,"Some of our legislators are against the plan of Dr Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah,who heads the party,regarding lending outside support to the Congress in case the PDP snapped ties with the Chief Minister."