Srinagar, June 20: Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s demand that the annual Amarnath pilgrimage be restricted to 15 days has outraged Hindu organisations, which asked him to “ keep his mouth shut”. Geelani on Friday gave a call to “ save the environment and the state’s culture” and said the duration of the Amarnath Yatra should be reduced from two months to 15 days. He even threatened an agitation in the Valley if his demand was not met.
“ If it can be done in Gangotri, where you have a limit of 150 pilgrims per day, why can’t it be done here ( Amarnath)?” he asked. He said extending the pilgrimage for two months had an adverse impact on the environment and Kashmir’s culture.
Hindu organisations responded by saying Geelani tried to inflame communal tensions every year by interfering in their religious affairs at the time of the pilgrimage.
They said Geelani was not the authority to dictate terms to the government or to the people of Kashmir.
“ Why is Geelani dictating to the government that the yatra be curtailed?” asked Brigadier ( retd) Suchait Singh, who spearheaded the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti movement in 2008.
On Geelani’s agitation threat, Dimpy Kohli, president of Shiv Sena ( Hindustan), said: “ If there is an agitation in Kashmir over the yatra , then there would be a counter agitation by Hindu organisations in Jammu.”
–Agencies