[Reader-list] "Report on desecrated Jain temple by national newspaper rubbished"

[mgowhar]

Link
http://www.kashmirdispatch.com/ShowStory.asp?NewsID=2108&CategoryID=29
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Srinagar, August 21: A report in The Times of India’s (TOI) Mumbai
edition about the burning of a Jain temple in Srinagar has been termed
“mischievious” by the state government. “The news report about the
burning of a Jain temple in Srinagar is absolutely baseless and it’s a
mischievous report,” said Mehraj-ud-Din Kakroo, District Commissioner
Srinagar.

The general manager of the hotel in whose premises the temporary
structure was erected to attract Jain tourists also rubbished the
report.

While speaking to Kashmir Dispatch, General Manager Imran from Silver
Star Hotel, said, “The temporary temple was dismantled and the idols
were removed by the Mumbai-based tour operator after his three-year
contract expired last month.”

“We had a three-year long contract with the travel agency for hosting
tourists, mostly from Jain faith. The tour operator asked us to build
a temporary Jain temple in the hotel to attract the Jain followers and
facilitate their prayers in the hotel,” explained Imran.

“On August 10, they came and removed the idols and dismantled the
fabricated structure,” he added.

The article, which appeared on Saturday, August 21, claimed that a
Jain temple was burnt in Srinagar on Saturday by violent mobs. Quoting
Gem Tour operator Jyotin Doshi, the report stated Doshi’s family built
that temple, three years ago in the premises of a private hotel Silver
Star.

The Mumbai-based tour operator added, “There was curfew in the Valley
but he (the priest) noticed people gathering outside the temple. The
priest quickly gathered the three idols, which were sculpted out of
panchdhatu (an alloy of gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc), and hid
them in a hotel. Three hours later, the mob struck and destroyed what
we had built.’’

The report further claims that two members of Doshi’s team from
Mumbai, Apurva Bhansali and Jiten Dharod, flew to Srinagar the next
day when the curfew was lifted. They packed the idols in cardboard
boxes and flew to Sabarmati.

“It was not burnt and TOI will come out with a corrigendum,” said
Jyotin Doshi, Chairman of Gem Tours, Mumbai, who facilitated the
construction of the Jain temple in the Hotel told Kashmir Dispatch.

"The structure was broken; we don’t know by whom, we had a contract
with the hotel for five years under which the temple was built on the
hotel property," he said.

“We don’t want to create enmity and request everybody to stop thinking
about the matter. We have now installed the idols in Ahmedabad and
there is nothing more I can say on this.

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Regards.
Gowhar Farooq.