Faith wins over fear, Amarnath Yatra continues unabated

Jammu: A fresh batch of over 4,000 pilgrims left here for the Amarnath cave shrine on Friday, an official said. The pilgrims progress has increased steadily despite a terror strike on a yatra bus in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on July 10. "Another batch of 4,105 yatris left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas at 3.40 a.m. in an escorted convoy of 191 vehicles for the valley," the official said. "The number of pilgrims has gradually started increasing since Monday as the daily arrivals have been going up after the terror attack," another official said. Authorities have tightened security ensuring no vehicle carrying pilgrims moved on the highway unescorted. It has also been decided that in addition to escort vehicles accompanying the convoy of pilgrims, armed guards would be deployed inside each yatri vehicle during the journey. On Monday, six women and a man were killed while 19 other pilgrims were injured as the terrorists sprayed bullets on an unescorted private bus from Gujarat carrying the pilgrims from the Himalayan cave shrine. The attack took place in the Khanabal area on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Over 1.90 devotees have performed the pilgrimage since it began on June 29. The 40-day Amarnath Yatra will end on August 7 on 'Shravan Purnima' coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.