The annual Amarnath Yatra is facing a terror threats and the government is making all efforts to ensure security of the pilgrims, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said. Earlier, both the J&K government as well as the Army earlier this week had warned that the yatra was under Islamic terrorists’ radar this year.

 

"There is terror threat to Amarnath Yatra," Shinde told reporters in the Capital when asked about reports which suggested threat to the pilgrimage to the cave shrine in the already-strife-torn  Himalayan state. 

 

The nearly two-month-long annual Amarnath Yatra is scheduled to begin on June 28. The minister said the government is taking every  precaution and sending additional forces to ensure safety and security of all pilgrims visiting the cave shrine. "All efforts will be made to ensure security of every pilgrim," he said.

 

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt General K T Parnaik had said on Monday that the Army had received inputs that terrorists might try to disrupt the yatra. "Intelligence inputs which we are receiving suggest that they (terrorists) have intentions to disrupt the Yatra," he had said.

 

The state government has also declared the entire Amarnath Yatra route in the state as "highly prone" to terror strikes and said it has directed security agencies to take necessary steps to ensure safety of pilgrims. Meanwhile, Director General of CRPF, Pranay Sahay is in the state to review the security arrangement for the Yatra.