They may Kill us, but not our Faith in Vaishnodevi

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http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/03july23/news.htm#5

 

"Militants can kill the pilgrims—be they a seven year

old child—but they can't kill the faith we have in the

Goddess Vaishnodevi. We will keep on visiting the

shrine even if we had to lose our lives", thundered

Gurbax Singh and Malkeet Singh, two Sikh youths from

Patiala in Punjab while touching the first stair of

Ban Ganga before leaving for their journey of 13 kms

hilly track to have darshan of Mata Vaishnodevi.

 

Figures reveal no decline in Vaishnodevi pilgrimage

 

>From Sanjeev Pargal

 

BAN GANGA (KATRA), July 22: Devotees of Mata

Vaishnodevi shrine including women and children

continued their journey to the holy Bhawan today even

after two powerful grenade blasts here last night

pledging to thwart the designs of Pakistan-backed

militants, who carried out the first major strike

against the pilgrims in 13 years of militancy.

 

Fearless and unmindful of the attacks that killed six

pilgrims including a child and wounded 37 others, the

enthusiastic pilgrims, chanting `Jai Mata Di', gave an

impression as to nothing has happened overnight.

 

Figures released by Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board,

which manages the holy shrine, were enough to prove

that there was absolutely no let up in the rush of

pilgrims today. Till 2035 hours tonight, a total of

19,680 pilgrims had registered themselves for the

yatra today as against a total of 24,464 pilgrims,

registered yesterday. Registration remained open till

2300 hours in the night and large queues outside the

registration counters in Katra indicated that today's

number of pilgrims might cross or remain close to what

it was yesterday.

 

"This is the real answer to the militants. Go ahead

with your pilgrimage and give a message to the

militants that you wouldn't allow their designs to

succeed", Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed said while

inter-acting with a Gujarati couple—Maheshwar Parsad

and his wife—during his visit here this morning. "We

had come here to visit Vaishnodevi shrine. Now (after

the blast) we would like to visit the Amarnath shrine

also to have darshan of Lord Shiva", a brave Maheshwar

Parsad and his wife told the Chief Minister making

Mufti Sayeed smile.

 

Union Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand,

MoS Defence Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and Chief Minister

Mufti Sayeed, who visited the famous `langar', run by

the T series Company of late Gulshan Kumar, this

morning—the site of last night's explosion—were all

unanimous in their view that the militants' strike was

aimed at derailing the process of peace in the State

and sabotage the efforts being made to this effect by

India and Pakistan.

 

"Militants can kill the pilgrims—be they a seven year

old child—but they can't kill the faith we have in the

Goddess Vaishnodevi. We will keep on visiting the

shrine even if we had to lose our lives", thundered

Gurbax Singh and Malkeet Singh, two Sikh youths from

Patiala in Punjab while touching the first stair of

Ban Ganga before leaving for their journey of 13 kms

hilly track to have darshan of Mata Vaishnodevi.

 

The Patiala youths were not an exception. A Jat family

of seven including two females and two children from

Kurukshetra in Haryana too had no hesitation in

resuming their journey to Bhawan after night halt at

Katra. "We would have gone ahead with our journey in

the night itself. We had no fears of the blast but we

preferred our journey for the day to watch scenic

beauty on the track", said Choudhary Ram Lal Singh,

head of the family.

 

Long queues of the pilgrims at two registration

counters at Katra and flurry of pilgrims on the track

at Ban Ganga despite a bandh in Katra town (in protest

against the blasts) were clear indications that the

militants' strike had failed to have any impact on the

pilgrims as well as their enthusiasm. Buses and

private vehicles, loaded with the pilgrims from

different parts of the country, continued to reach

Katra, the base camp of the shrine.

 

"Everytime when we talk of peace with Pakistan, such

incidents take place. This is a deliberate attempt by

the militants to mar the peace prospects in the

State", observed Union MoS Home Swami Chinmayanand

after going through the site of last night's

explosion.

 

He told a group of newsmen here that such incidents

could sour the relations between India and Pakistan

even as an attempt is being made to improve relations

between the two countries. Pointing out that a

Pakistani delegation headed by Moulana Fazlur Rahman

had met the Indian religious leaders in New Delhi only

yesterday, Chinmayanand asserted that the terror

strike was also aimed at whipping up religious

sentiments of the people.

 

Asked whether the strike on Vaishnodevi pilgrims could

mar the chances of Indo-Pak peace talks, Swami quipped

:"talks have not started as yet. Only efforts are

being made to resume the talks. If the efforts are

given up, only anti-national elements will be

benefitted".

 

Describing the incident as "very unfortunate", MoS

Defence Prof Chaman Lal Gupta said the militants were

frustrated due to virtual return of normal conditions

in the State, which was evident from the encouraging

response to Amarnath yatra and tourist season this

year. He said the efforts would be made to ensure that

such unfortunate strikes didn't take place in future.

 

Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed said: "the enemy

didn't like restoration of peace. They want to

sabotage the peace efforts and would continue to do

so".

 

"Over one lakh tourist had visited Srinagar this

season. The number of Amarnath pilgrims, despite

restrictions, has reached one lakh. There was a thaw

in Indo-Pak ties especially after the visits of Fazlur

Rahman and a business delegation to New Delhi, Over

300 Parliamentarians had recently visited J&K. Besides

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Congress chief

Sonia Gandhi and 15 CMs of Cong ruled States also

visited the Valley this year ", he pointed out and

said "these were clear indications of normalcy, which

was not liked by the enemy". He, however, didn't

identify as to who the enemy was.

 

The Chief Minister said he has directed state police

chief, Gopal Sharma, who also accompanied him to the

blast site, to take all measures the police can take

to provide protection to the pilgrims of Amarnath and

Mata Vaishnodevi shrines.

 

Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Chief

Secretary Dr S S Bloeria and Minister of State for

PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Jugal Kishore, who

represents Katra-Reasi segment in the Legislative

Assembly, also accompanied the Chief Minister to the

blast site.

 

A complete shut down was observed in Katra and

Udhampur towns today in protest against the blasts.

All shops including dhabas and tea stalls, business

establishments and rehris remained closed in Katra

town. Local people organised four langars at different

places in the town for the pilgrims. While three

wheelers, which ply on Katra-Ban Ganga track, remained

off the road, the buses plied normally to transport

the pilgrims.

 

Meanwhile, para-military and police personnel

continued searches all along 13 km Vaishnodevi track

to apprehend the militant involved in throwing two

plastic grenades on the pilgrims, taking dinner at

Gulshan's langar. A number of suspects have been

rounded up by the police for questioning.

 

The Gulshan langar, being run by T series for last

several years, remained closed today for sanitisation

and cleaning. The langar was expected to be resumed

shortly. A number of police and para-military

personnel had been deployed around the langar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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