Amarnath yatra remained suspended for second consecutive day today from Jammu in the wake of the killing of a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir Valley.
"The yatra is suspended for the second consecutive day today from Jammu. No fresh batch of pilgrims has been sent from Jammu," Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Simrandeep Singh, said.
He, however, said the yatra from the base camps in Kashmir is on.
The yatra was suspended from Jammu yesterday following violence after the killing of Burhan Wani.
Mobile and Internet services also remained suspended inJammu as a precautionary measure.
1,18,747 pilgrims have so far paid obeisance at the cave shrine in the Kashmir Himalayas.
A state government release said 15,684 yatris paid obeisance at the Amarnath shrine on the 8th day of the pilgrimage.
"The yatra convoy did not proceed from Jammu for the two base camps today because of law andorder considerations," it said.
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Meanwhile, a group of Amarnath devotees said they want the pilgrimage to continue amid tight security.
"We have come a long way to pay our obeisance at the shrine of Baba Amarnath. We are not deterred by the ongoing unrest in the Valley, but we want authorities to provide adequate security to us so that we can proceed with the yatra," Manoj Kumar, a pilgrim from Rajasthan said.
The pilgrims, who have come from various parts of the country, said there has been a lack of clarity on part of the government and the Shri Amarnath Yatra Shrine Board on the resumption of the pilgrimage.
"We were supposed to leave for the pilgrimage yesterday but due to the unrest in the Valley, we were not allowed to move ahead. Today is the second day and nobody from the government has so far come to us and given any update on the resumption of the yatra," Gopal Singh a pilgrim from Chandigarh said.
Those stranded at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp rued lack of basic facilities and said the base camp cannot accommodate the growing number of pilgrims.
As more pilgrims continue to pour in, several of them had to spend the night under the open sky.
"There is no facility here. We had to spend the night under the open sky. We wanted to proceed ahead for the yatra but we cannot put our family to such hardships. So we have decided to cancel our programme and return to our native place," Suhash C F, a pilgrim from Kerala said.
The authorities also acknowledged that the ongoing unrest in the Valley was affecting the pilgrimage. The number of people entering the state for the yatra has come down "drastically", whereas some of the people have already cancelled their plans to proceed with it, they said.
"On their entry into the state, the pilgrims are given a token and in a day, we give over 2,700 tokens to people to proceed ahead for the yatra but today the number has drastically come down and only 1,500 got the token," Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Simrandeep Singh told
