300 VHP activists detained by police while trying to move towards valley

Nitesh Sangral
JAMMU, June 03: Nearly 300 activists of Vishaw Hindu Parishad (VHP) were detained when failed in a bid to start the Shri Amarnath Yatra before the time set by the authorities assembled in parade ground to leave for the cave shrine. The state administration did not allow them to start the pilgrimage before the scheduled date. It is pertinent to mention here that the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has fixed June 25 the date to commence the religious journey and it will conclude on August 2. Source said that around 600 yatris from across the country assembled at Parade area early morning to leave for the cave shrine but they were stopped by police from commencing the journey. After protesting for two hours, the pilgrims courted arrested and were taken to Yatra Nivas in Bhagwati Nagar. He further said that the civil and police administration is on tenterhooks following reports of thousands of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists having reached to Jammu to start the annual Amarnath Yatra from tomorrow in defiance of the government schedule of June 25. “The administration was having sleepless nights and making every effort to foil the purported Yatra from Jammu before the official date on the call of VHP. Meanwhile, VHP has alleged that the administration has snapped water and power supply to all the places where yatris are staying and also ordered the private transporters to cancel all booking for taking pilgrims to the Valley” he added. VHP also alleged the Regional Transport Office Jammu ordered the private transporters to cancel all bookings and threatened to cancel their route permits if found violating the order. It alleged that the government has deployed police at Railway station, Lakhanpur for restricting the entry of Amarnath Yatris, while four buses coming from Dehli and Punjab carrying pilgrims were stopped at Lakhanpur sent back last night. The VHP state president, Rama Kant Dubey accused government of adopting “dictatorial attitude” and said it was using all undemocratic means to hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community. The devotees demanded that the government extend the duration of the yatra to two months starting from Jayeshth Purnima on Monday” he added. Official source said that the SASB informed that the route to the shrine was buried under deep snow. "The government would not risk lives of pilgrims by allowing them to proceed under hostile weather conditions. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has said that it will organise the pilgrimage from June 25 to Aug 2 - a total of 39 days.