Amarnath Pilgrimage Terrorist-attack Massacre (2002)
Background
The 48-days July–August annual Hindu pilgrimage, undertaken by up to 600,000 or more pilgrims to 130 feet (40 m) high glacial Amarnath cave shrine of iced stalagmite Shiv linga e at 12,756 feet (3,888 m) in Himalayas, is called Amarnath Yatra. It begins with a 43 kilometres (27 mi) mountainous trek from the Nunwan and Chandanwari base camp at Pahalgam and reaches cave-shine after night halts at Sheshnag Lake and Panchtarni camps. The yatra is both a way of earning revenue by the state government by imposing tax on pilgrims, and making living by the local Shia Muslim Bakarwal-Gujjars by taking a portion of revenue and by offering services to the Hindu pilgrims, and this source of income has been threatened by the Islamist Kashmiri Sunni militant groups who have banned and attacked the yatra numerous times, as well as have massacred at least 43 people in Amarnath pilgrimage terrorist-attack massacre (2000) and Amarnath pilgrimage terrorist-attack massacre (2001) causing death of mostly unarmed Hindu pilgrims and 10 Muslim civilians.
On 2 August 2000, pro-Pakistan Islamic terrorists from Hizbul Mujahideen (designated a terrorist organisation by India, European Union and United States,) massacred at least 32 people and injured at least 60 people in a two hour long indiscriminate shoot out at Nunwan base camp in Anantnag district, causing the death of 21 unarmed Hindu pilgrims and 7 unarmed Muslim shopkeepers, and 3 security force officers. This attack on Amarnath yatra was part of the larger 1st and 2nd August 2000 Kashmir massacre in 5 separate coordinated terrorist attacks that killed at least 89 (official count) to 105 people (as reported by PTI), and injured at least 62 more.
On 20 July 2001, a terrorist threw a grenade on a pilgrim night camp at Sheshnag near the Amarnath shrine in which at least 13 persons, including 3 women, were killed in two explosions and firing by militants, 2 were security officials and 3 of the killed person were Muslim civilians. 15 other were also injured in the attack.
Aftermath
Earlier attacks on Amarnath yatra and Bin Laden's September 11 attacks on USA, were some of the incidents that forced the change in global response to the Islamic terror attacks from aloof and sporadic to united and coordinated. Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorist organizations, Lashkar-e-Taiba founded by Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen were designated terrorist organisations by India, European Union and United States.
See also
- Kanwar Yatra
- Islamic terrorism
- Nandimarg terrorist-attack massacre (2003)
- Amarnath pilgrimage terrorist-attack massacre (2017)
- Amarnath land transfer controversy
- List of terrorist incidents in India
- List of Islamist terrorist attacks