Thousands of Hindus begin trek to Kashmir shrine

JAMMU, India (Reuters) - Thousands of Hindu pilgrims chanted hymns as they set off to a cave shrine deep in India's troubled Kashmir on Tuesday, despite fears of a possible militant attack on them.

Hundreds of policemen and soldiers were deployed along the 350-km (215-mile) route which runs through forests and mountains before reaching the cave shrine, Amarnath.

"We have made foolproof security and other arrangements for the pilgrims this year," Gulchain Singh Charak, a minister in the strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir state said on Tuesday.

Pilgrims have been targeted by Muslim militants several times since a violent rebellion against Indian rule broke out in Kashmir in 1989.

Last year, a shopkeeper was killed and dozens of people were wounded in two separate attacks on pilgrims.

During the two-month-long annual pilgrimage, devout Hindus walk and ride ponies or palanquins to the cave - situated at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,700 feet), to pray by an ice stalagmite they believe to be a symbol of Hindu god Lord Shiva.

Kashmiri political separatist groups have said they will protest against a decision by the government to transfer nearly 100 acres of forest land to the Hindu shrine trust, Amarnath Shrine Board, for erecting shelters for the pilgrims.

"I want to make it clear to New Delhi that we won't allow anybody to occupy our land and we will fight it tooth and nail," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir's chief cleric and chairman of All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference said.

Officials fear the pilgrims could be targeted by militants.

(Reporting by Ashok Pahalwan and Sheikh Mushtaq in Srinagar; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Valerie Lee)