Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Pt. Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust (PNBMT) which is struggling for the passage of Shrines Bill to protect the Hindu religious places in Kashmir today made it clear that the passage of the Bill is precondition to return of Pandits to Valley and will also act as a major Confidence Building Measure (CBM) in this regard.
“The passage of Kashmiri Pandits Temples and Shrines Bill is a precondition to return and rehabilitation of the community to Kashmir Valley. It’s the biggest CBM for KPs to return to the Valley,” spokesperson of the Trust, Dr R L Bhat told reporters here today.
He said that the objective of the Bill is to take the temples and shrines out of the “control” of some persons and throw them open for public.
He also said the Trust has no objection to change the name of the Bill from Kashmiri Hindu Shrines and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) Bill to Shrines and Religious Places of Hindus of Kashmir (Management and Regulation) Bill.
He said that the Bill will create an elected Shrine Board which would manage temples and shrines in the Kashmir Valley.
“Shrine Bill has same objectives as the bills of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Sarthal Mata Shrine and Shiv Khori Shrine in Jammu. All these bills were instrumental in setting up of boards for the management and upkeep of shrines and temples,” Dr Bhat said.
While all these boards were nominated by the Government, the Shrine Bill for temples in Kashmir provides for an elected Shrine Board for transparent management,” he said.
He said the Shrine Board is to be constituted by all the Hindus of Kashmir.
“Strangely, the very people who supported the bills for shrines in Jammu want to keep the lucrative shrines of Kashmir under the private management using flimsy excuses to mislead the people,” he said.
He said the Shrine Bill is against the people, bodies and trusts with “vested interests”.
“They have been selling and leasing temple lands for the last 25 years. Once the Bill is passed nobody can sell, mortgage or misuse the shrines (properties). That is the reason why (those with) vested interests are afraid of the Bill and are misleading the public,” he alleged.
Swami Kumar Ji, K P Sabha chief, K K Khosa, AIKPC president, H N Jattu, ASKPC president, Ravinder Raina, Sharika Peeth president, M K Jalali, Prof B L Zutshi, Prof A N Sadhu a prominent KP leader and A K Pandita, vice president AIKS were present in the press conference.
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