Police and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have intercepted communications indicating the possibility of major fidayeen attacks in the Valley around Eid-ul-Azha festivities beginning on 2 September.
Undeterred by the attack on Amarnath pilgrims, 22,633 devotees embarked on the pilgrimage on 11 July, amid stepped up security measures. Escorted by CRPF and police personnel, 3,289 pilgrims, comprising 2,283 men, 756 women and 250 sadhus and sadhvis, left in 68 vehicles in a convoy from Jammu for Baltal and Pahalgam base camps this morning, officials said. Officials of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) today informed Governor N N Vohra that "by 10.30 am, 18,838 pilgrims had left for the cave shrine from Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panjtarni and Baltal yatra camps." As many as 5,556 pilgrims, who left Chandanwari, this morning will need to halt en-route and they will reach the shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas the next day, the officials said.
Seven Amarnath pilgrims, five of them women, were killed in a terrorist attack and 15 others were injured in Anantnag, the police said. There is no confirmation on the death toll yet with the CRPF claiming that six people have died in the attack, while the J&K police said that seven people are dead. At 8:20 pm, the terrorists attacked an armoured car of the police, an official said. When the police fired back, the attackers fled, firing indiscriminately, the official added. A bus carrying yatris was on the highway when the incident occurred. Terrorists first attacked on the combined NAKA of STF, SOG and CRPF at 20:15 hrs at Khannabal and ran away towards Batingu. They then attacked the pilgrims who were in a bus (GJ 09 J 9976) at Batingu and escaped towards Arwani.
Top Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, who replaced Burhan Muzafar Wani after he was killed in an intelligence-driven police operation in Anantnag in July last year, is reportedly one of the two terrorists killed in Tral, Kashmir. Wani's killing had sparked violence in the Kashmir Valley for months.
If you will not take care of your customers, somebody else will,' reads a poster in the main dining area of most sought after Raja Hut in Gulmarg, a paradise tucked away in high altitudes of Himalayan Valley of Kashmir.
In a corner of the dining area sits a Bukhari, an iron hearth that Kashmiris traditionally use to keep their houses warm in chilly winters. And at the top of Bukhari sits a pot of Kahwa, which keeps boiling from morning till the late hours into the night. The one person who remains there as visitors (mostly international tourists and ski lovers) come and go, is Iron Khan, the owner of “Raja Hut”.
There are many other such huts in Gulmarg but this one is different in many ways. A tourist can check in to this two story lodging and dining place and eat and stay for free.
