Restrictions intensified across IIOJK on Amarnath Yatra pretext
Jammu: Restrictions have been intensified across Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Jammu region in the name of security for Amarnath Yatra, which is scheduled to start from Friday, July 3.
According to Kashmir Media Service, several additional checkpoints across the Jammu city have been installed, officials said. Personnel from Indian police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other agencies have been deployed for intensive frisking, surveillance and verification operations, a police spokesperson said.
Senior police officers are personally monitoring the operations at the checkpoints to ensure alertness, professionalism and public convenience, the spokesperson added.
Special attention is being given to vehicle checking, identity verification and detection of suspicious movement, supported by technical inputs and facial recognition systems (FRS) at vulnerable and crowded locations, he said.
“Instructions have also been passed to conduct random checks at hotels, guesthouses and lodgement centres,” the spokesperson said. Police have instructed citizens and pilgrims to cooperate with the naka teams, keep valid identity proofs and report any suspicious activity immediately.
The checkpoints will be operational round the clock in high-sensitivity and high-mobility zones, including on main highways, city peripheries and routes leading to the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, the spokesperson added.
Similar restrictions have been imposed in many districts of the Kashmir valley including Srinagar.
The 38-day annual pilgrimage is scheduled to start from the twin routes — the traditional 48-km Pahalgam route in Islamabad district and 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district — leading to the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine.
The first batch of pilgrims will leave for Kashmir from the Jammu-based Bhagwati Nagar base camp a day before the start of the yatra.
