Srinagar: Authorities have temporarily suspended the Hindu holy pilgrimage to Amarnath on the 5th anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, according to reports.
The departure of a new batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp to Kashmir has been postponed as a precaution due to the anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, an official said.
So far this year, over 4.90 lakh pilgrims have visited the 3,880-meter-high cave shrine, he said.
“The yatra has been paused for today only, and no new groups will be permitted to travel from Jammu to Kashmir,” an officer informed PTI.
Article 370, which came into effect in October 1949, granted Kashmir autonomy in internal administration, allowing it to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defense, foreign affairs, and communications.
The Indian-controlled region of Kashmir established a separate constitution and flag and denied property rights in the region to outsiders.
Article 35A, a provision added to Article 370 in 1954, empowered state lawmakers to ensure special rights and privileges for permanent residents of the state.
With the repeal of Article 370, Article 35A was also scrapped, allowing non-Kashmiris to buy property in the region and raising fears that India is trying to engineer a “demographic shift” in the Muslim-majority region.
In 2019, Modi’s government also bifurcated Kashmir into two regions – Jammu and Kashmir in the west and Ladakh in the east – to be ruled directly from New Delhi. Kashmir lost its flag, criminal code, and constitution enshrined in Article 370.
No regional elections have been conducted in the two regions since then, but the Supreme Court has ordered Indian-administered Kashmir to hold assembly elections by September 30 next year.