With all the interested parties present, the Union home ministry is anticipated to conduct a final security assessment of the upcoming Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, according to official sources.
Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will preside over the meeting, which will take place at the MHA’s North Block offices. The leaders of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF, BSF, and ITBP, as well as top representatives from the Army, the Jammu and Kashmir government, the Amarnath shrine board, and intelligence are anticipated to attend the conference, according to the sources.
The annual 62-day trip is planned to begin on July 1 and end on August 31. According to the reports, this would be the last security assessment before the Amarnath Yatra starts.
According to them, a key difference this time will be the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) not being stationed at the cave shrine and at around half a dozen other spots along the pilgrimage route. The conference is also anticipated to cover the “location-wise” deployment of security troops.
For many years, the CRPF has been keeping watch on the cave shrine, which is situated in the south Kashmir Himalayas at a height of 3,888 metres, as well as other significant pilgrim sites along the way. This time, the cave shrine will be protected by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), while the CRPF would be stationed just under the steps, according to the sources.
Six additional points along the road would also have ITBP and BSF personnel posted, a duty normally performed by the CRPF. According to the sources, this was carried out in compliance with the “requirements of the Jammu and Kashmir Police” and in consideration of “emerging security threats and challenges.”
According to officials speaking to PTI, the country’s top internal security force has been asked to secure the yatra route in the Kashmir valley, where the pilgrims will board buses before beginning the incline, because a sizable number of CRPF units have been deployed in the violently disturbed Manipur and for the panchayat elections in West Bengal.
In Jammu and Kashmir, there are two routes used by pilgrims on the Amarnath Yatra: Baltal and Pahalgam. 3.45 lakh people visited the cave shrine last year; this year, the number may reach five lakh, according to the authorities.