Jammu-Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Shesh Paul Vaid said that it is the responsibility of the police force in the state to provide security and safety to the Amarnath pilgrims who are in the state for the annual pilgrimage to the Hindu holy site.
His comment comes on the day the J-K police imposed restrictions in parts of Kashmir as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order on the eve of the second death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Vaid appealed to yatris for cooperation and assured the people that elaborate security arrangements had been put in place for the pilgrimage.
“It is our responsibility to ensure safety of yatris. Keeping in mind the situation here, I appeal them to cooperate with us. Elaborate security arrangements have been made as it is Burhan Wani’s death anniversary tomorrow,” Vaid was quoted as saying by ANI.
Even as a strike called by separatists evoked mixed response, security forces in the Valley are bracing themselves for any untoward incident.
Restrictions have been imposed in Tral, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, and in the Nowhatta and Maisuma police station areas of Srinagar.
Wani, a resident of Tral, was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Kokernag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on 8 July 2016.
His killing triggered massive protests and prolonged period of curfews and shutdowns across the Valley. As many as 85 people were killed and thousand others were injured in clashes between security forces and protesters over four months.
The official said security forces have been deployed in strength at sensitive places across the Valley.
Today’s strike was called by separatists to protest against the shifting of Asiya Andrabi, the chief of radical women’s outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), to Delhi by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The separatists, under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, appealed to the people to “observe a complete shutdown and maintain civil curfew”.
According to a police official, only businesses in Lal Chowk responded to the call. While public transport was sparse, private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were plying in many areas of the city.
As a preventive measure, Malik was detained at a police station while Mirwaiz was put under house arrest. Geelani continued to remain under house detention.
Yatra resumes
The Amarnath yatra resumed on Saturday from Jammu after it was suspended for two days due to inclement weather in Kashmir, with a batch of over 2,200 pilgrims leaving for the Pahalgam base camp for the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine, officials said.
The authorities, however, declared the Baltal trek unsafe and suspended the yatra from there.
Read More: Amarnath yatra resumes from Jammu after 2-day suspension
“Due to landslides and shooting stones, the trek from Baltal to the cave shrine is unsafe for the yatris,” an official said.
“It has been decided that no yatri will be allowed to move on this trek till the conditions are reviewed,” he added.
The pilgrims on Saturday left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in an escorted convoy of 51 vehicles for Kashmir Valley. Pilgrims using helicopter services only will be allowed to perform the yatra from Baltal side for the time being.