SRINAGAR : About 1540 vehicles, carrying pilgrims who had paid obeisance at holy Amarnath cave shrine, left Baltal base camp in the central district of Kashmir under unprecedented security arrangments for Jammu late last night.
Majority of vehicles have since reached Jammu while others are way to winter capital of the state, official sources said here today.
However, no traffic was allowed from Jammu to Kashmir in view of the tense situation as curfew remained inforce in almost entire south Kashmir even today, when separatists had extended strike till Monday.
Official sources said that 1540 vehicles carrying pilgrims, left base camp Baltal late last night under unprecedented security arrangements. We have received information that majority vehicles have since reached Jammu after covering the 300-km-long distance during the night, they said adding there was no report of any untoward incident.
No fresh pilgrims had arrived from Jammu during the past 24 hours, sources said. Traffic on the highway was closed for security reasons following massive protests in south Kashmir for two days after the killing of top Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants in an encounter with security forces in Kokernag in Anantnag on July 9 evening.
Because of closure of the highway, thousands of pilgrims got stranded at Jammu and two base camps of Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam. However, after high level meetings in New Delhi and Srinagar, traffic on the highway, linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was allowed during the night to avoid day protests.
However, pilgrims, who had returned to base camps after having darshan of the self made Ice-Shivlingam at the cave shrine, were being taken to Jammu during the night to avoid day protests.
Meanwhile, traffic on historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region remained suspended since last Saturday for security reasons. (AGENCIES)
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