{"id":1955,"date":"2025-07-03T13:11:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T13:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/month-long-hindu-pilgrimage-begins-in-iiojk\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T13:11:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T13:11:31","slug":"month-long-hindu-pilgrimage-begins-in-iiojk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/month-long-hindu-pilgrimage-begins-in-iiojk\/","title":{"rendered":"Month-long Hindu pilgrimage begins in IIOJK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hindu pilgrims leave the holy cave of Lord Shiva after worshipping in Amarnath, southeast of Srinagar, July 2, 2019. — Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

PAHALGAM: Hindus on Thursday commenced a month-long pilgrimage in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), with many setting off from near Pahalgam — the site of a deadly April 22 attack in which gunmen killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists, sparking a major escalation with Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Amarnath Yatra drew over half a million devotees to a sacred ice formation in a high-altitude cave nestled in the Himalayan hills above the town.<\/p>\n

New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected — triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that escalated into a four-day conflict.<\/p>\n

It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a May 10 ceasefire.<\/p>\n

But pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who travelled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP<\/em> “there is no fear of any kind”.<\/p>\n

India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva.<\/p>\n

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“We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory.<\/p>\n

‘Not afraid’<\/h3>\n

At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire.<\/p>\n

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\"Indian
Indian security personnel stand guard as Hindu pilgrims await their registration ahead of the the annual Amarnath pilgrimage. — AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Troops in newly deployed armoured cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch — efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras.<\/p>\n

“High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,” said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for IIOJK.<\/p>\n

All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk.<\/p>\n

Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food.<\/p>\n

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Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location.<\/p>\n

Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) uphill from the last easily motorable track.<\/p>\n

“Whatever the attack that was carried out here, I am not afraid. I have come to get a glimpse of baba (the ice formation)” said Ujwal Yadav, 29, from India’s Uttar Pradesh state, undertaking his first pilgrimage to the shrine.<\/p>\n

“Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.”<\/p>\n

Sinha has said that “public confidence is returning”, but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10% this year.<\/p>\n

Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989.<\/p>\n

India’s government has since heavily promoted the annual event, which runs until August 9.<\/p>\n

Freedom fighters against India’s control of IIOJK have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it was used to assert Hindu dominance.<\/p>\n

In 2017, suspected freedom fighters attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people.<\/p>\n

The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in IIOJK where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed.<\/p>\n

On June 22, India’s National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had “provided food, shelter and logistical support” to the gunmen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Month-long Hindu pilgrimage begins in IIOJK<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hindu pilgrims leave the holy cave of Lord Shiva after worshipping in Amarnath, southeast of Srinagar, July 2, 2019. — Reuters PAHALGAM: Hindus on Thursday commenced a month-long pilgrimage in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), with many setting off from near Pahalgam — the site of a deadly April 22 attack in which…<\/p>\n

Read More “Month-long Hindu pilgrimage begins in IIOJK”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}