Srinagar, Aug 06: Centre on Tuesday said that only two terrorist attacks on pilgrims have taken place between 2022 and 2024 in Jammu and Kashmir, with 14 casualties reported in these incidents.
In a written reply to a query from Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said that no such incident has taken place in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.
He said that in 2022 one such incident happened on May 13, when a blast took place inside a passenger bus in Katra, resulting in five casualties.
Similarly, this year on June 9, terrorists attacked a bus carrying pilgrims near the Kanda area of the Reasi district, resulting in nine casualties.
He added that in response to these attacks, the government has enhanced security measures to protect pilgrims, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The key initiatives include regular issuance of safety advisories to inform and guide pilgrims, a robust mechanism for intelligence sharing among security agencies, and provision of central armed police forces upon request from state or union territory authorities,” the minister said.
He added that Jammu and Kashmir’s government has also implemented specific measures to bolster security, such as the implementation of standard operating procedures for pilgrim safety, coordination of security efforts among various agencies, installation of CCTV cameras along routes, camps, and langer points of the Amarnath deployment of drones at sensitive locations, stationing of specialized quick action teams at strategic points, provision of corridor protection by the Army, deployment of senior officers at Pahalgam and Baltal to monitor arrangements, and regular reviews by senior officers to ensure effective security measures.)
