Amarnath Yatra proceeds smoothly despite curfew

The annual Amarnath Yatra continued uninterrupted on Friday despite curfew in the Kashmir Valley as another batch of 1,200 pilgrims left Jammu.

"A batch of 1,208 Yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu for the valley in an escorted convoy," a police officer said. "Despite curfew in the valley, the yatra is proceeding smoothly."

Officials of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) said over 198,000 Yatris had performed the pilgrimage that began on July 2 and will conclude on August 17.

The pilgrimage is on from both the north Kashmir Baltal base camp and the traditional south Kashmir Pahalgam base camp.

While pilgrims have to trek 14 km from Baltal to reach the cave shrine, the distance from Pahalgam to the shrine is 46 km and pilgrims take three days to cover the distance.

Twelve pilgrims have died of natural causes this year.

--IANS

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