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Pilgrims praise Kashmiris, slam govt for upsetting equilibrium
Published on Sun, Jul 06, 2008 at 02:19 in Nation section
Tags: Amarnath Shrine, Land Transfer , New Delhi
UNNECESSARY CONTROVERSY: Pilgrims say Kashmir is like heaven and the government needs to look after it.
New Delhi: Every year, lakhs of pilgrims brave hostile weather, dangerous terrain, and the threat of militancy to pray at the Amarnath cave shrine. Over 6 lakh devotees have already made the journey this year, well over last year's numbers. The Mukherjees from Kolkata have just come off a helicopter that flew them to Baltal - one of the two base camps from where the yatra begins - at Rs 10,000 per person.
Mrs Mukherjee doesn't mind the high prices, but what's hurting her are her feet. However, they don't have to walk too far before a Kashmiri shoe seller catches their eyes. Having made their purchase, the Mukherjees set off, full of praises for the Kashmiris, even going to the extent of saying that Kashmir is a bit like Kolkata.
There is clearly a close bond between the pilgrims and their Muslim hosts.
Men like Bindiya Ameen, come to Baltal every year to take pilgrims up to the cave shrine.
"Times have changed at Baltal. Earlier people only had two options - either ride a pony or a palki, or go on foot. Now there are roads, electricty, hotels, everything," says Ameen.
The yatra has been Ameen's source of bread and butter for many years and what has him worried is the state government's decision to allow the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) to use 100 acres of land at Baltal for making temporary shelters for the yatris.
"This land belongs to everyone. Why take it away from us," he says.
SASB, set up six years ago to manage the Yatra, says the land would have been used to improve living conditions for the yatris - moving from tents and pre-fab huts to permanent structures.
It is certainly true that the camp can do with better management, but is building permanent structures the only way out? Local tour operators disagree. They say, if given a chance, they deliver the best facilities available to the yatris within these temporary shelters.
Mohammed Shafi has been putting up tents at Baltal for over a decade. He says SASB is not the solution, it's the problem.
"I have better quality of tents and bedding and I definitely want that the prices of my things should be higher than other stuff. So if the insists on one rate for everyone, then I don't want to upgrade my camp," says he.
His guests agree. The Doshis, from Mumbai, came to Amarnath to offer thanks after their daughter Arti recovered from a coma last year. They say that Kashmir is like heaven and that it shouldn't be spoiled.
And it's not just ordinary people who say that the Kashmiris are a hospitable lot. Laxman Singh, an RSS supporter led a team of 40 yatris from Jodhpur to Amarnath this year. As they waited at a rest house for pilgrims in Jammu, Laxman Singh acknowledged the legendary Kashmiri hospitality.
"We had a Muslim driver there and he told us, 'don't be scared of me because I am Muslim. I will take care of you'. And he did. He protected us and drove us around and dropped us off at the Yatri Niwas."
So how did an issue of acquiring land that measures just around four cricket fields turned into an ugly controversy? To find the answer we have to go the day when the Shri Amarnath Shrine board was constituted eight years ago.
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