The holy trek to Amarnath cave shrine located in the South Kashmir district of Anantnag has been hit hard by the spiral of violence triggered across different parts of Kashmir Valley in the wake of killing of pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
Four weeks ahead of the culmination of yatra on August 18, the Yatri Niwas,base camp in Jammu, is almost wearing a deserted look for last two days.
The long queue of pilgrims outside yatra registration centres have also dried up. Caretakers and cooks stationed at the community kitchen points have been leisurely moving around as very few pilgrims are assembling there for food and snacks.
Yatra statistics released by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board authorities clearly revealed in the last two weeks the total foot fall of pilgrims have declined considerably due to volatile situation in the valley.
In the first three weeks of yatra 2.02 lakh pilgrims performed darshan inside the the Holy Cave.
The foot falls of pilgrims were also limited by the news of early melting of 'ice lingam' this year.
According to official sources, "the first seven days of yatra witnessed peak rush of pilgrims and average 15000 pilgrims performed darshan but after July 9,the day law and order situation deteriorated across Kashmir valley the numbers came crashing down".
Started on July 2, the yatra recorded 1.18 lakh pilgrims in the first week till July 9 and in the last 14 days a little over 79,000 pilgrims performed darshan.
less than 3000 pilgrims performed darshan inside the holy cave on Friday and saturday, lowest till date on a given day. On Sunday the yatra number finally crossed the milestone of 2 lakh with 3175 pilgrims performed the darshan inside the holy cave.
The tour operators and local businessman are worst hit in Jammu region and speculating whether the yatra will continue till August 18 under the prevailing security scenario in the state.
President of the Hotel and lodges Association in Jammu Inderjit Khajuria said, "during yatra period we look forward to advance bookings but this year instead of earning profits we have been earning losses so far. The yatra is on the decline and may not touch milestone of 3 lakh. Khajuria said, "The pilgrims don't want to take extra risk. They are worried for their own safety and security even after the state and centre govt have provided them elaborate security along the yatra route".
A senior state govt officer camping at the Registration counter in Jammu yatri niwas told The Pioneer, "due to frequent suspension of yatra from Jammu the number of pilgrims have declined in the last 10 days.
Yatra statistics of previous years revealed since 2004 an average number of over 3 lakh pilgrims have been performing darshan inside the holy cave barring 2007 when 2.96 lakh pilgrims performed darshan. At the peak of Amarnath land row in 2008 over 5.3 lakh pilgrims had performed darshan inside the sanctum sanctorum. Enthusiastic pilgrims paid little heed to the land row controversy and came out in large numbers to perform darshan of 'ice lingam'.
The same trend was witnessed during summer unrest of 2010 in Kashmir with pilgrims recording 4.55 lakh. Record pilgrim traffic of last one decade was recorded in 2011 when total number of pilgrims crossed milestone of 6.36 lakh.
As the Shrine board authorities focused on spreading more awareness among the yatris and streamlined registration process besides upgrading facilities for pilgrims the yatra recorded higher number of foot falls.
Health checks were also made mandatory as the total number of deaths caused due to sudden cardiac arrest crossed 100 mark in 2011.
Shri Amarnath Shrine board authorities also launched an aggressive campaign in the media to ensure lesser number of pilgrims fall prey to the challenges of trekking high altitude yatra track. Even the base camps at Baltal and Pahalgam were equipped with basic health infrastructure facilities to provide emergency services to critically ill pilgrims at various places along the route.