news details |
|
|
| Pandits decry lack of Govt. help in rebuilding damaged temples in Kashmir | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Mar 31- Eyes were moist when people saw over 40 pictures, depicting destroyed and desecrated temples and other places of worship in various parts of the Kashmir valley during the last 18 years. The pictures spoke volumes on the nature of destruction. One picture showed an idol in a temple having been beheaded. Another showed Guns having been painted on the temple walls with inscription HM and JKLF. The exhibition of these pictures had been held by the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS).The head of the Samiti. Sanjay K. Tikoo said that "our survey had revealed that 435 temples and places of worship of Kashmir Pandits have been fully or partially destroyed during the last 18 years.
Asked what the purpose for holding the exhibition was, Tikoo said that the main purpose was to seek support of the majority community and its assistance in renovating and rebuilding these religious places. Tikoo expressed his dismay saying that some of the mosques which had been damaged and destroyed in the encounters between the militants and the security forces had been renovated or rebuilt by the Government and by the people. He said that neither the Government nor the members of the majority community had initiated any step in rebuilding these temples when these places of worship had been destroyed by small groups of militants. He said that for the people of Kashmir and for the state Government time had come to debate on the protection of temples and places of worship so that every section of the society understood the challenges and their responsibility.
The Sangarsh Samiti had invited Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Molvi Umar Farooq and Mohammed Yasin Malik. It was only Malik who had turned up whereas Geelani had sent his secretary, Aiyaz and Mirwaiz his press secretary, Salim Geelani. While the two sides discussed the need for conservation of these temples they wanted the Government to initiate measures for reconstructing these places of worship which could build confidence among the minority community.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
