Amarnath Yatra: J&K police finds a new secure route

SRINAGAR: As the J&K government prepares extensively for upcoming Amarnath Yatra, the police and paramilitary forces are banking on the new highway from Qazigund to Srinagar to bypass the vulnerable stretches of Bijbehara and Awantipora in southern Kashmir.

J&K police has prepared a detailed security report, mapping the Yatra route and identifying the flash points for deployment of armed forces. The police, sources say, has already put in a request for additional 22,000 forces to secure the Yatra routes from Pahalgam in southern Kashmir and Sonamarg in northern Kashmir. Besides, CRPF, ITBP, SSB, the Army would also be deployed in some other areas, to scuttle any attack.

“This new highway passes through sparsely populated areas that are less difficult to sanitise. We are bypassing the areas where there was possibility of militant attack. Besides, we have identified the spots where we will have to put extra deployment to avoid any untoward incident,” a senior police official, who is part of the Yatra arrangement team, told ET.

The part of the four lane Srinagar-Qazigund highway was made operational in October last year.