Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir takes new meaning during pandemic

A pilgrim holds up the Indian flag on the trek to the Amarnath cave in Kashmir this month. Photo by Basit Zargar.

SRINAGAR, Indian-administered Kashmir — The Indian government is allowing the annual Amarnath pilgrimage in Kashmir to begin later this month despite a surge in COVID-19 cases and government rules that close religious places in the majority-Muslim locked down region.

While the pilgrimage has been a source of Hindu-Muslim unity — a Kashmiri Muslim family discovered the holy cave now devoted to Lord Shiva, a deity in the Hindu trinity, and many Muslim businesses benefit from the tourism — its government support during a pandemic when mosques are shuttered as Eid approaches is being seen by many as another sign of Hindu nationalism in the Narendra Modi-led administration. The pilgrimage has also seen Pakistani terrorist attacks in recent years, including an attack in 2017 that killed eight Hindu pilgrims.

So far, 187 people have died of COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir and 10,827 people have been infected, according to the Indian government.

The ice stalagmite inside Amarnath caves, where many Hindus believe Lord Shiva dwelled. Creative Commons photo.

Every year tens of thousands of Hindus from across India trek the slippery mountains in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and North Kashmir’s Ganderbal district to catch a glimpse of an ice stalagmite in a cave at a height of 14,000 feet where Lord Shiva is said to have dwelled. Most pilgrims who come from the hotter areas of India trek the mountains to pay respects at the cave.

This year the pilgrimage has been curtailed from its traditional two months to just two weeks, even while the government imposed a fresh COVID-19 lockdown in the capital Srinagar this week.

Houses of worship have been closed in Jammu and Kashmir since Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the outbreak in March with nationwide stay-at-home orders. The region has also been under a government-imposed lockdown and communications ban of varying levels since August 2019, when the Indian government stripped the region of its semi-autonomy. Kashmir acceded to India at India’s independence in 1947 rather than merging with a Muslim Pakistan under a constitutional provision that allowed a semi-autonomous rule in Kashmir. Part of Kashmir is ruled by Pakistan.

Hindu pilgrims said their first prayers at the holy cave on July 5. According to reports, 500 pilgrims will be allowed for the pilgrimage daily but have to test negative for COVID-19 before embarking on the journey. 

Prayers at the cave shrine are telecast live everyday for Shiva devotees across India.

Doctors say the high altitude of the Himalayan area makes pilgrims intrinsically prone to respiratory disorders and the outbreak of coronavirus can multiply that threat. Breathing issues like wheezing are common where oxygen concentration is low.

Expressing fears about possible spread of the disease during the pilgrimage Kashmir-based physician Dr. Khawar Achakzai said if just one pilgrim catches the virus, it can rapidly infect others.

“The infection can spread without any control and can’t be managed,” Achakzai said.

He said there is a possibility that asymptomatic patients can turn symptomatic at high altitudes. 

“The lungs have to adapt to the change in environment,” Achakzai said. “As the altitude goes up further so does the air pressure, the lungs have to adapt to the change in the air pressure conditions as well.”

He said even if a person catches light infection or pneumonia, it has the potential to become a major health problem.

Of the nearly seven million people who live in the Kashmir Valley, 97% are Muslims. In the past three decades, about 47,000 people have been killed in conflict, mainly between Indian security forces and Kashmiri militant separatists, according to government figures. In the 1990s, many Kashmiri Hindus fled for their lives and settled outside the valley. 

Last year, the pilgrimage was suddenly suspended days before the Modi-led government scrapped Article 370, the constitutional provision allowing Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomy, on August 5. Two days before that, the government had issued an advisory asking all the tourists and Amarnath pilgrims to leave Kashmir. More than 20,000 tourists left the valley in just the first 24 hours.

The Amarnath pilgrimage has remained a strong symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in the turbulent Kashmir region. It was a Kashmiri Muslim family that discovered the cave more than 150 years ago. The local Muslims also rescued hundreds of pilgrims in 1996 during a snowstorm that killed 200 people on the pilgrimage route.

Analysts say allowing the pilgrimage during the pandemic is a politically motivated move.

“The pilgrimage is allowed because [Hindu nationalists] have to prove their racial and civilizational superiority,” said Sidiq Wahid, a political commentator. “It goes with the intent of this government, although we cannot accuse, we can certainly decipher what the intent is.”

Political commentator Noor Ahmad Baba said it is illogical to allow the pilgrimage for Hindus when the majority Muslim community is preparing for a lockdown ahead of Eid on July 30, like the lockdown they endured during Eid in May, a time normally celebrated with breaking fasts in community at mosques.

“On one the one hand there are so many restrictions and precautions, and on the other hand pilgrimage is being allowed,’’ Baba said. “It is a political assertion, nothing more than that.”

He said it is being done by an administration which has no stakes in Kashmiri society and has no democratic connection with the people.

“That’s why you find these lopsided decisions are taken,’’ Baba said. “They are not making even a semblance of giving an impression of fairness. Everybody will attribute this to Hindutva policies and ideology.”

Meanwhile the Supreme Court of India has dismissed a plea seeking restrictions on devotees for the Amarnath pilgrimage this year due to the pandemic. The court has said the issue whether the pilgrimage should be held or not is a matter which must be left to the “competence of the local administration.”

Zaffar Iqbal is a journalist based in Kashmir India. He has reported for 18 years on armed encounters, environmental issues, crime, politics, culture and human rights. He’s formerly the bureau chief of Jammu and Kashmir for NDTV.