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Amarnath yatra: Heads of security agencies to visit J&K for constant security review

With intelligence inputs about possible attack by the militants on the pilgrims, unprecedented security arrangements have been made
Last Updated 03 July 2022, 09:09 IST

To maintain high level of security throughout the 43-day Amarnath pilgrimage, heads of paramilitary forces, the Army and intelligence agencies will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir in turns, especially to the Valley, for constant security review.

With intelligence inputs about possible attack by the militants on the pilgrims, unprecedented security arrangements have been made to ensure the pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas remains incident-free.

The newly appointed chief of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Dinkar Gupta is already in Kashmir on his first visit to the Union Territory as head of the premier central probe agency. Though the NIA isn’t directly involved with security for the yatra pilgrimage, it’s relentless operations against militancy and terror funding in recent years has helped situation to improve in the Valley to a large extent.

Sources said after the NIA chief’s visit, Army chief Gen Manoj Pande will also be visiting Jammu and Kashmir shortly. Army has been deployed on twin tracks of Baltal and Pahalgam as well as the cave shrine for the security of the pilgrims.

“Even while sitting in their headquarters in New Delhi, the chiefs of paramilitary forces are regularly assessing the situation in J&K with regard to the yatra security,” they said and adding they (chiefs) will travel to J&K to review the security arrangements on spot in the coming days.

This year the yatra is expected to see higher than usual attendance of pilgrims as it is resuming after a gap of three years. Threat of sticky bombs and drone attacks are some of the new challenges for security forces during this year’s pilgrimage.

The Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) have been deployed for security arrangements. However, maximum companies belong to the CRPF.

Over 200 high-powered bulletproof vehicles have been deployed in sensitive locations along with security forces to detect explosives as well as other tasks to ensure safe and secure yatra. These vehicles, as per the sources, are equipped with a high-powered automatic mapping facility, and the ability to move easily in plains, forests, water as well as places on heights.

The yatra to the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas started on June 30 and will culminate, as per the tradition, on the day of Raksha Bandhan, on August 11. Pertinently, the number of security personnel deployed for pilgrimage this year is four times more than the previous years.

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(Published 03 July 2022, 08:56 IST)

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