Omar leads ministers, officials to border Poonch district
This was the first outreach of Omar after becoming CM of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Amarnath Yatra was suspended on Saturday with no pilgrim allowed to move towards the Kashmir Valley from Jammu due to a separatist-called protest shutdown, police said.
“Taking stock of the law and order situation because the protest shutdown called by the separatists today, movement of the pilgrims from Jammu to Srinagar will remain suspended today,” police sources were quoted as saying by IANS.
July 13 is observed as Martyrs Day in Jammu and Kashmir to remember those killed in the firing outside the Srinagar Central Jail by forces of the Dogra Maharaja in 1931.
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Over 1.50 lakh pilgrims have performed the ongoing Amarnath Yatra so far, since the annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine started on July 1.
The 45-day long yatra will end on August 15, coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.
On Monday too, separatists had called for a protest shutdown to commemorate the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. Wani was killed in Kokernag area of Anantnag district on July 8, 2016, in a gunfight with the security forces.
Situated at 3,888 metres above the sea-level in Kashmir’s Himalayas, the Amarnath cave shrine houses an ice stalagmite structure that symbolises mythical powers of Lord Shiva, according to the devotees.
The ice stalagmite structure waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Sunday said the annual Hindu pilgrimage has been possible with the support and assistance of the local Muslims.
Malik also asked people to bear with the curbs imposed on civilian traffic on the national highway for two hours daily as it concerns the safety and the security of the pilgrims.
(With inputs from IANS)
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