More than 400,000 Hindus participated in a pilgrimage of one month in Kashmir controlled by India, the authorities said, shrinking security for security concerns weeks after a military conflict with Pakistan.
The pilgrimage began on July 3 and officially closes on August 9, but the organizers said that the rains of whip had damaged narrow paths, forcing a premature end.
The official Vijay Kumar Bidhuri said in a statement on Saturday night that 415,000 pilgrims had participated.
Many of the faithful began their journey to the Pilar de Ice Amarnath from near Pahalgam, where an attack on April 22 in Pahalgam killed 26 tourists mostly Hindu in the Muslim majority region.
Nueva Delhi, without evidence, said that the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, says that Islamabad rejected, which caused a series of diplomatic measures of Tit -for Tat that became a four-day conflict.
It was the worst confrontation of nations with nuclear weapons since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drones and artillery fire on both sides, before a high fire on May 10.
Nueva Delhi said last week that three Pakistani men who carried out Pahalgam’s attack were killed during a shooting on July 28 in the forests adjacent to the hills where the Cueva Sanctuary is located.
Some devotees can still visit the cave, but this year’s numbers are below half a million devotees who participated in 2024.
The authorities appealed to the Hindus to undertake the pilgrimage, increasing the security for the event displaying 45,000 troops with high -tech surveillance tools that supervises the exhausting walk towards the cave, dedicated to Shiva, the deity of destruction.
On Sunday, the Indian forces exchanged fire with armed men for the third day in Kulgam, far from the Pilgrimage Route of Amarnath.
The soldiers have killed two combatants, said a senior police officer.
