Srinagar: Police Thursday said that it has made all the necessary arrangements for peaceful and smooth conduct of Amarnath Yatra and that it had not issued any advisory to security about threats during the pilgrimage.
Local news gathering agency KNS quoted Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Muneer Ahmad Khan as saying that there was no advisory as such about threat to the yatra.
“There was no advisory as such. It was a piece of raw (kachaa) intelligence report which got viral on Whats App and was blown out. It was to be developed and verified,” Khan said.
“Every year when Amarnath Yatra starts, we get a lot of inputs and lot of intelligence reports and we are supposed to make proper arrangements. And all the arrangements have been made for peaceful and smooth conduct of Yatra and are in place. Review of arrangements have been made by me, DIG and SSPs,” the IGP said.
“Till now, we are satisfied that arrangements are upto the mark. We are hopeful that we will be able to manage Yatra peacefully,” he said.
The 40-day-long pilgrimage to the holy cave of Amarnath in the mountainous region of south Kashmir’ Pahalgam commenced from Jammu yesterday. More than 2.30 lakh pilgrims have registered for the Yatra and the first batch of over 4,000 was flagged off by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh yesterday in Jammu.
Last week, reports said that police has issued advisory about making stringent security measures as the Yatra was facing “threat” from militants.
Earlier, Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said that there is no threat to the Yatra and stressed that “pilgrims are our guests”.
Geelani had said a misinformation campaign had been launched against the people of Kashmir. “Pilgrims are our guests. People in Kashmir have always been friendly with yatris. Kashmiri people have never been against any religion, but are only fighting for their legitimate rights,” he had said.
On issuing advisory to policemen for avoiding mosques during Eid, the IGP said that the advisory to police for not going to mosques on Eid was misquoted.
“Just as parents advise their children not to go outside and take caution during an untoward incident, I too advised my boys to be alert and cautious. What is the harm in that? Do you say I asked them not to pray? I will not let my boys get killed like sitting ducks. I will not advise them to go to a mosque and give a chance to militants to get killed,” he said.
“95 percent of the killings of policemen have happened while coming out of the mosque after offering prayers or going inside for prayers,” he said.
