Leaders will keep promise of passage of Shrines Bill: Kashmiri Pandits

JAMMU: Kashmiri Pandits today expressed hope that political leaders will facilitate the passage of Kashmiri Temples Bill without any dilution, which was presented in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by the Select Committee.


"We hope the leaders (of various political parties) will fulfil their promise of (passage of) Kashmir temples and Shrine Bill," Chief Spokesman of Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust ( PNBMT) Dr R L Bhat said here today.

He said though the report has not collated the opinion of its members and has attached them as such it is clear that there was total consensus that the bill should be passed immediately.

The tabling of the report by the chairman points to it. The report shows that of the seven members, excluding the Chairman who participated in the select committee meetings and whose written notes were attached to it, three wanted a few shrines to be kept out of the bill while the other four favoured all shrines and temples to be included in the bill.

"In fact, the report as it is shows clearly that the major opinion of the select committee has been for passing the bill without any restriction of its ambit or dilution of its provisions," Bhat said, adding this is what the Hindus of Kashmir have been demanding.

They are for a transparent, elected Shrine Board so that the temples and shrines are brought under the collective management in which all Hindus of Kashmir, without any division or distinction, shall have full and equal rights to vote and be elected.

"PNBMT believes that collective demand of the displaced Hindus has been registered by the government as well as the opposition," he said, adding that the community has shown collective will and unity of purpose pursuing this consensus demand.

"We believe that the support expressed by the political parties and opinion leaders of the state to the larger objective of the collective mechanism for the protection, preservation and management of the temples and shrines shall be translated into the passage of the bill, as promised by the government," he said.