Despite the Valley being engulfed by unprecedented protests over the past two and a half months, Amarnath yatra has passed off peacefully. Even though stones and bullets flew around on the streets, the buses carrying pilgrims to the holy cave were not touched. The conduct of this year's yatra was a massive enterprise. Around 4.50 lakh yatris from all parts of India visited Valley and had to pass through the streets seething with angry protests.  Most of the time yatris had to travel through the curfew bound areas to reach their base camps at the foothills of Baltal and Pahalgam.  It was more difficult for the pilgrims taking Baltal route. They had to pass through the downtown Srinagar city which has been the centre of the current upheaval. On the other hand, the pilgrims taking Pahalgam route had to cross South Kashmir’s Islamabad town. However, hardly an incident of stone-pelting at the convoys carrying yatris was reported from anywhere. Both State and Central governments also took extra care for the conduct of yatra.  Forty eight companies of the paramilitary forces were deployed to the yatra route, which is roughly 4000 personnel.  This left the State short of the adequate paramilitary personnel to handle the street protests and forced it to requisition 21 more companies of CRPF and 2000 personnel of Rapid Action Force to assist the J&K Police.  But the fact remains that even the substantially increased strength of the police personnel on the streets has hardly helped moderate, let alone quell, the growing anger in Valley.  Both J&K police and CRPF personnel have struggled to handle the snowballing crisis at hand. The multiplying mutinies in every nook and corner of the Valley have hit hard every aspect of life. Only aspect of life that has remained antiseptically untouched is, of course, the Amarnath yatra.  And this was not a chance happening.  So, at the conclusion of the two month pilgrimage while the government pats itself on the back for its success, the tribute is also due to the people of the Valley who, more than any government agency, have a role in its peaceful conduct.  Amid the reigning chaos, the people have exhibited  concern and empathy for their  pilgrim guests and ensured they are spared of the mayhem on the streets.  This so, even when this place has lost 63 persons – some of them the boys under the age of ten – to the often unprovoked police firing.  However, this collective sense of responsibility towards the peaceful conduct of yatra has nothing exceptional about it. Even in 2008, when the yatra itself became a subject of controversy after a hush-hush transfer of the 100 acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board, bringing hundreds of thousands out on the streets, the pilgrimage itself went smoothly. This was so, even when sometimes the busloads of yatris ran into the agitated gatherings of angry youth. Similarly, in 2009, the enormous groundswell over the mysterious murder of two women in Shopian made no difference to the conduct of yatra. This deliberate show of solidarity with yatris amid very turbulent times is a gesture that has only received a grudging acknowledgement from the media in India. Instead there has been a surprising haste to carry motivated stories designed to project a stereotypical image of the people in the Valley. One such story was about the letters to the Sikh community in Valley asking them to embrace Islam or leave the Valley. These letters despite their anonymous nature were portrayed in a way that gave bad name to the entire population. And the same media has been meaningfully silent about the incident-free conclusion of the yatra and will not give credit for it to the people who while themselves caught in the daily mayhem ensured that no pilgrim was touched. It is time that the truth about Kashmir gets some space too.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST