KPs seek separatists' intervention

Visit to sharda temple

After the failure of Government of India to take up the issue regarding grant of permission to Kashmiri Hindus to visit the world famous Sharda temple in Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK), a group of Kashmiri Pandits have appealed the separatist leaders to take up the issue with the Government of Pakistan. A group of Kashmiri Pandits in this connection is meeting the moderate Hurriyat leader Moulvi Umer Farooq soon in Summer capital and make an appeal to him in this regard.  A spokesman of the group said as Government of India has failed to take up the issue with Pakistan and convince Pak authorities to permit the Hindus from J&K and other parts of country to visit the world famous Sharda Shrine in PoK they are left with no alternative but to seek the intervention of Hurriyat leadership.

The spokesman expressed the hope that the Hurriyat leaders who visit Pakistan and take up the issue of promotion of trade between PoK and Jammu and Kashmir should take up the issue of Kashmiri Pandits with Pak authorities also who crave for visiting the Sharda Shrine which was a seat of learning in medieval India. The spokesman said that the delegation will appeal the Hurriyat leader to take up the issue and seek the permission for Hindu pilgrims to visit the Sharda Temple on the same ground as Sikh devotees of India are allowed to visit Nankana Sahib and other Sikh religious places in Pakistan.

He expressed the hope that Moulvi Umer Farooq will take up the issue with Pak authorities as early as possible. The group has already fixed the time and date with Moulvi Umer Farooq and it is likely to meet him next week. The spokesman while expressing optimism about the fate of meeting with Hurriyat leader said as GOI failed to take up the issue with concerned quarters in Pakistan the Pandits are optimistic that separatist leader will not only take up the issue with Government of Pakistan but get the issue resolved once for all.

It may be recalled that various KP organizations had approached the GOI asking it to take up the issue with Pakistan over a decade back. Even some delegations took the issue with good will delegations that visited from across the border to this state and sought their intervention in the matter. But till date the Pak Government failed to respond to the request.

Some Pandit organizations even had filled up application forms seeking permission from Government to visit the world famous shrine but these application forms were not approved by the Government and since then the issue is in the cold storage.

Source: http://earlytimesnews.com/newsdet.aspx?q=101912