The genesis of the Amarnath issue goes back to 2003 when the then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir S K Sinha took over as the chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) that manages the annual yatra to Amarnath and appointed his Principal Secretary Arun Kumar as its CEO. From 2004 the SASB started making demands on the state government for land to make shelters and other facilities for pilgrims.
Every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make the arduous trek to the holy cave to pay homage to a Shiv Ling formed by an ice stalagmite.
Earlier this year Sinha wrote to the government, asking for forest land in Nunwan, Pahalgam and Batal and to set up an independent development authority that would be run by the Governor. The proposal for an independent body was turned down but the then state government headed by the Congress and supported by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) issued an order on May 26, 2008 diverting 800 kanals (100 acres) of forest land to the SASB.
For first few weeks, the land transfer order was opposed by environmentalists and the local media on purely on environmental grounds. The state government parried by claiming that the transfer was not a permanent transfer and had only been temporarily 'diverted'.
http://newageislam.com/manufactured-spontaneity-burns-jammu-and-kashmir/current-affairs/d/613
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5:00 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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