India ramps up security in Pahalgam as month-long pilgrimage begins

Hindu devotees began on Thursday a month-long pilgrimage in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K), with many of the faithful starting from near the site in Pahalgam where a deadly attack triggered conflict with Pakistan in April.

India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva.

“We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory.

Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam.

Pahalgam is the site in IIOJK where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 people, mostly tourists. India immediately blamed Pakistan for the incident, despite providing no public evidence.

Pakistan has strongly denied involvement and called for an independent investigation.

Read: Pahalgam: Quad avoids blaming Pakistan

Tensions further escalated in the early hours of May 7, when missile strikes hit six cities in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), destroying a mosque and killing dozens of civilians, including women, children and the elderly.

In a swift military response, Pakistan’s armed forces shot down Indian warplanes, including three Rafale jets, widely regarded as a key asset of the Indian Air Force. Over the following two days, India launched waves of Israeli-made drones, which were also neutralised by Pakistan's military.

The confrontation intensified again in the early hours of May 10, when India targeted several Pakistani airbases with missile strikes. In retaliation, Pakistan launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, damaging Indian military installations, including missile storage sites, airbases and other strategic targets.

It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a ceasefire came into effect on May 10.

‘Not afraid’

Pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who travelled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP “there is no fear of any kind”.

“Our army is standing guard everywhere. No one can raise a finger towards us,” he said.

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 IIOJ&K.

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 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) 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% this year.

Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989.

Read more: Pakistan slams India at UNGA over human rights abuses, state terrorism

Freedom fighters in IIOJ&K have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it is used to assert Hindu dominance.

In 2017, millitants attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people.

The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in IIOJ&K where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed.

On June 22, India’s National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had “provided food, shelter and logistical support” to the gunmen.

Indian police have issued wanted notices for three of the gunmen, two of whom they claim were Pakistani citizens.