Amarnath Yatra begins after 2-year hiatus; 2750 pilgrims leaves Nunwan base camp

Amid chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and 'Bam Bam Bhole’, the 43-day long annual yatra to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Amarnath ji in south Kashmir Himalayas began with religious fervour. The first batch of 2,750 pilgrims left from the Nunwan base camp in the Anantnag district’s Pahalgam, which is the traditional route for the pilgrimage. Another batch of pilgrims left for the holy cave from base camp Baltal in Sonmarg of central Ganderbal district. This is a shorter route and a pilgrim can come back in a single day after having darshan at the holy cave. The annual yatra was cancelled in 2020 as well as 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, it was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats ahead of the Centre's move to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.