“NOT AFRAID”
At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire.
Troops in newly deployed armoured cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch – efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras.
“High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,” said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for Jammu and Kashmir.
All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk.
Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food.
Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location.
Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900m high, around 30km uphill from the last easily motorable track.
“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.
“Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.”
Sinha has said that “public confidence is returning”, but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10 per cent this year.
Source: CNA
