Giving in to the pressure mounted by separatist leaders, the Omar Abdullah government has withdrawn permission to the All Pandit Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) for a fresh yatra to the Pir Panjal glacial lake Kousar Nag from southern Kashmir.
Kulgam Deputy Commissioner Nisar Ahmed Wani had given the permission on July 21 to a group of Kashmiri Pandits intending to carry out the pilgrimage to Kousar Nag from Kulgam, via Aharbal waterfall from July 31 to August 3.
With a separatist-sponsored shutdown in Kulgam district on Wednesday, authorities conveyed to the APMCC that the yatra to Kousar Nag would be permitted only through Chasana in Jammu’s Reasi district.
Mr Wani confirmed to The Hindu that no yatra would be allowed to Kousar Nag from the Pir Panjal foothills in South Kashmir. “Yatra will operate only through its traditional route in Reasi district”, hesaid.
Prominent separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had dismissed the yatra plan as “part of RSS agenda to eliminate the Muslim identity of the region”. He has said it could destroy Kashmir’s “fragile ecology and water resources”
“We will not allow this yatra at any cost. It’s just the beginning of implementing a far greater RSS plan to start scores of such yatras in Kashmir”, Peoples Political Party chief Hilal War, who is a key sponsor of the agitation, told The Hindu .