Cancellations by pilgrims rattle porters and pony wallahs

It was 9 PM on Monday when Rayees Ahmad received a call. A porter, travelling with a group of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu on their way to the holy cave of Amarnath, had just entered his tent at Sheshnag, 73 km from Anantnag in south Kashmir. Briefed about the attack on the bus of pilgrims, he rushed out to inform the people whom he was travelling with. The shocked pilgrims immediately decided to return without having a ‘darshan’.

“All of us were scared but I persuaded them not to cancel their pilgrimage and now we are proceeding towards the holy cave,” said Ahmad over the phone on Tuesday. He, like several Muslims in the area, has been accompanying pilgrims for years through precarious mountain passes. It sustains his poor family for several months.

“Such attacks could affect tourism in the Valley. A party just called me from Delhi and cancelled their registration,” said the clearly distressed porter. With locals offering various services to pilgrims, the livelihood of more than 60,000 people in Pahalgam alone depends on the annual Amarnath pilgrimage.

According to Gh. Nabi Lone, president of the Sumo and Ponnywallah Association of Pahalgam, around 15,000 pony owners, 6,000 labourers and palanquin-bearers offer their services during the pilgrimage. “We always bear the brunt of such incidents. Last year, due to the prolonged unrest, the whole tourist season was lost,” said Lone.

Lone added that the attack had already started taking its toll on them as there had been a significant drop in the number of pilgrims already.

In 2016, after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani triggered street protests across the Valley, fewer pilgrims undertook the pilgrimage. The yatra was also diverted via the Srinagar-Sonemarg route, bypassing Pahalgam.

“Last year, the yatra was not allowed to proceed through Pahalgam and people like me lost out on our earnings,” said Gulzar Ahmad, a taxi driver.

According to official reports, a 55 per cent reduction in tourist inflow was witnessed in the year 2016 as compared to 2015.