With the beginning of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage from Friday the security forces deployed on yatra duty will be facing 'litmus test' to ensure smooth conduct of the yatra especially in the wake of increasing number of militant strikes in Kashmir Valley.
Since most of the militant strikes took place along the National Highway the security forces would remain on their tenterhooks to sanitise the yatra route, besides keeping a tight vigil on the movement of suspected people to defeat their nefarious designs.
The pilgrims would be escorted under tight security arrangments from the yatri base camp in Jammu to two different base camps set up in Baltal and Pahalgam for the last leg of the yatra.
Along the route Road opening parties along with sniffer dogs have been tasked with the most crucial job of sanitising the National Highway to detect presence of any explosive material.
According to official sources, “high alert has been sounded along the entire yatra route starting from the gate way of J&K to the holy cave shrine of lord 'Shiva', located in South Kashmir district of Anantnag to protect the pilgrims”. Even the Union Home Ministry officials have taken a fresh re view of the yatra arrangements besides offering all possible assistance to ensure incident free yatra in the coming weeks.