[Reader-list] 'Kashmiri Pandits should be the ones runningAmarnath Board'

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

As I had promised in my first mail on this thread, I am posting here a
more direct story about Sikhs and Kashmiri Pandits *in the Valley*
supporting the demand of revocation of the land "diversion" order.
This is just to establish "facts", as demanded, and if you want to
respond to it then please don't take us into ROFLs and PDP's stances
on unpassed laws or sentimental issues about sentiments - just facts
please?

And if the objection is that the article below was published by a
paper whose ownership / editorship are dubious, then those who have
been quoted can be asked to verify whether they really did say what
they were quoted as saying. I mean, it is quite amazing for a KP
organisation to say that they are disappointed with Geelani & Co for
not including them in the Action Committee Against Land Transfer.

best
shivam

o o o o o


Non-migrant KPs ready to take charge of yatra

Abid Bashir
Srinagar, June 28:
http://www.risingkashmir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4748

Breaking their silence over the controversial land transfer issue,
non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) on Saturday said they are ready to
take charge of the Amarnath cave and organise the yatra jointly with
the Muslims.

"We have been demanding that the charge of all temples should be given
to us. Majority of our temples are being handled by the outsiders,
which is unfortunate. Amarnath cave is of a great importance in our
religion. We are ready to take its charge and organise the yatra at
our own," President Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), Sanjay
Tickoo told Rising Kashmir.

About the controversial land transfer issue that has claimed four
lives including a 24-year-old girl over the past six days of brewing
anger, Tickoo said, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has no right to
use the land that belongs to Kashmiri people.
The government should revoke its order and give back the land to the
Forest Department, he said.

"There is not a single KP member in SASB. We do not need it. The SASB
should be dissolved," Tickoo said. "We will form our own board, if
needed. We would definitely need the help of Muslims to set up tents
to accommodate yatris as they have been doing in the past. We would
also need the help of ponywallas to ferry aged and ailing yatris."
However the KPSS President has a grudge with the Action Committee
Against Land Transfer (ACALT) for not inviting them when the Committee
was formed.

"There should have been at least one KP member in this Committee but
that did not happen. Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said that the yatra
should be handed over to KPs but why were we ignored when ACALT was
formed," questioned Tickoo.

He said Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq should help them build
pressure on the government to pass the Temple Bill on Kashmir so that
they could get back the charge of all temples across Kashmir.

Tickoo urged the people of Kashmir to stand up against vested
interests who are triggering communal frenzy in Kashmir.

Another non-migrant organisation, Hindu Welfare Society (HWS) said
they have been demanding to form a KPs Auquaf Trust to handle all
Hindu temples across Kashmir.
"See, the irony is the priests from outside are handling our temples.
We have been sidelined and the government is acting like a mute
spectator over the past so many years," said Chuni Lal Bhat, spokesman
HWS.

He said every inch of Kashmir's land belongs to the people of Kashmir
and Government should revoke the land transfer order forthwith.

"We can manage yatra ourself. There is no need of SASB," Bhat said.