'We were forced to sleep outside Srinagar airport'

Bathinda: Several devotees and members of langar (community kitchen) committees from Malwa region of Punjab, who have gone on Amarnath pilgrimage have been stranded near Baltal and Pahalgam base camps.
The yatra was suspended briefly following violent clashes in the valley after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Those who returned on Wednesday revealed their hardships."When we reached the Srinagar airport, we were not even allowed to enter and had to spend the night on the footpath outside it," said Kamal Gupta and Mohinder Pal, members of Barnala-based langar committee Shiv Sewa Sangh.
"A convoy of vehicles left Baltal on Tuesday night under security and reached Srinagar past midnight. We were shocked to see around 400 persons sleeping on the footpath outside the airport. We tried to approach the airport authorities, but the gates were closed and we could not even get in. We too had to sit on the footpath," Kamal told TOI over the phone.
Krishan Kumar, a langar committee member from Budhlada town of Mansa, said, "We had to face wrath of locals, who attacked our vehicle with stones near Baltal. At the Srinagar airport, nobody listened to our woes, nor did they let us in. It is only on Wednesday morning that the gate was opened and we could go inside."
Bathinda resident Surinder Kumar said they were stranded in Baltal for couple of days due to the unrest in the valley. "As returning to Punjab through the road route was risky, we decided to fly back. But at the airport, we had to spend the night outside."