Much importance is being attached to Advani's pilgrimage to Amarnath and Leh for its timing and the location. Both pilgrim centres are in Jammu & Kashmir and near to what has been a busy war zone.

During the Amarnath visit, he is slated to hold a meeting with senior state officials with whom he will discuss the safety and other aspects of thousands of pilgrims who have started making a beeline for the shrine under heavy security cover.

Sources point out that Advani's Amarnath visit could not have come at the more opportune time: Only yesterday had the security forces foiled an attempt by insurgents to blow up part of the cavalcade carrying pilgrims on theJammu-Pahalgam highway. In Advani's Amarnath attempt, the North Block officials see a moral-boosting effort for both the pilgrims and the security forces.

At Leh, Defence Minister George Fernandes will be accompanying Advani. The two will perform a `pooja' on the banks of the Sindhu river and then participate in a function organised by Sindhu Darshan Abhiyan Samiti. Its convenor is Tarun Vijay, editor of the RSS-mouthpiece Panchajanya. He is currently in Leh to oversee arrangement for some 230 participants who have booked Indian Airlines tickets for the function.

Singers Anoop Jalota, Kumar Sanu and danseus Sonal Mansingh will be among the artists performing at a function organised by the Samiti. But this time, disclosed an official connected with the function, there would not be much pomp and show; instead the focus will be remembering the martyrs of Kargil.

The Sindhu river, though it originates from Pakistan before a part of it trickles into the high-altitude Himalayan desert of Ladakh, ismuch revered by the Sindhis. But people close to Advani attribute his discovery of the Sindhu in Leh to pure chance. This happened, it is explained, four years ago when he was put up in a guest house near the banks of the river and a chowkidar informed him about the holy river.

Since then, Advani has made several attempts to have a pilgrimage carved out of the bleak, stony surroundings in Ladhak. In 1997, Advani visited there again with a handful of families, mostly Sindhis. But the real effort started in 1998, when, as a Home Minister, he took Fernandes with him to the river and performed a `pooja' on its banks. The Samiti too started working in earnest last year and over 400 people attended the function organised by the Samiti.

This year too, the Samiti is hopeful of ``good attendance''- though it might be a bit thin due to the Kargil conflict. But the real aim of the Samiti, and in effect of Advani -- as pointed out by its official -- ``is to integrate the countrymen with their roots.''