Author: Kavita Suri
Publication: The Statesman
Date: March 9, 2008
URL: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2008-02-10&usrsess=1830795801110&clid=2&id=216888
Kashmiri Pandits have alleged that the Muslim-majority
government in Jammu & Kashmir is ignoring illegal sale of Hindu temples
properties in the state. Less than 5,000 Kashmiri Pandits who live in the
Kashmir valley say that their resistance to sale of temple properties has
exposed them to threats from a very powerful land mafia. They alleged they
have been warned against protesting.
The Pandits say that despite the state government's
"verbal assurances" to protect temple properties, nothing is being
done to save them. A promise to bring in legislation during the recent assembly
session to prevent sale of such properties was not fulfilled. To the disappointment
of Pandits, the legislature was adjourned sine dine without introduction of
the bill.
The Pandits say there is more to the non-introduction
of the Bill than meets the eye. They claim that powerful interests, including
a land mafia, scuttled the legislation.
The ground realities in Kashmir are alarming.
The Dharmarth Trust headed by Dr Karan Singh has locked up an ancient and
historical temple Ramjee of Barbar Shah. This is the first time in its known
history that the temple has been locked. Security forces living in the adjacent
dharmshala have been told not to enter the temple precincts.
"For all these years, it was a routine
with us, the few Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley, to come here every
Sunday for a get-together, make prasad and distribute it among devotees. But
the trust management, with the help of the state government, locked up the
temple and no one has been allowed to enter for the past one month,"
said Vijay Sas of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), Kashmir.
Pandits alleged that some people in the Dharmarth
Trust management want to sell off the property of the temple, valued at Rs
300 crore. In fact, some of them allege that the property would be sold to
an influential Muslim of the Valley. The property located just across the
Rambagh Bridge and opposite the Metrological Department is at a prime location.
Inside the huge plot of land, there is an ancient Shiva temple, said to be
around 1,200 years old. The lingam is said to be more than 8.5 feet high.
The KPSS filed a PIL in the Supreme Court
and was asked to file a fresh case in the concerned High Court. A case is
already pending in the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar.
"Since January 2008, another incident
of sale of our religious and community property has surfaced in Kashmir. It
is the sale of DAV School in Rainawari by one Roshan Lal Raina who was just
a teacher in that school but turned into a broker," said Shri Sas. Pandits
allege that the sale took place at the behest of an influential official attached
to the Director-General of Police, J&K.
"KPSS has taken the legal course in the
matter but we are worried," said a displaced Pandit. But they hope the
court will intervene and stay the sale of temples. "If the government
fails to bring a Bill in the ongoing session of the state Assembly to ban
sale of temples and other religious properties, we will proceed on a fast
unto death," KPSS president Shri Sanjay Tickoo said.