Amarnath Yatra resumes from Baltal camp a day after clashes

Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal Sarmad Hafeez told The Indian Express that pilgrims were allowed to move towards the holy cave on Saturday morning. “Yatra has resumed from the Baltal and it is going on smoothly from the route,” he said over phone from Baltal. “Situation is under control and normal.”

He said that an FIR has also been registered after the incident. “Investigations are on to find the causes of yesterday’s incident. The guilty will be brought to task,” he said.

On Friday, authorities had suspended the yatra from the Baltal route after a ponywala Nayib Ahmad was attacked by a non-local langar owner. The attack turned into violent clashes between locals and non-locals langar owners in which more then 20 people were injured.

According to Hafeez, no Amarnath pilgrim was injured in the clashes. “All the pilgrims are safe and no one was injured yesterday,” he said.

The Amarnath yatra has two treks, the traditional Pahalgam route and the shortest Baltal trek. Most often, the pilgrims chose the Baltal, which is 14 kilometers from the base camp.