SRINAGAR: Amid growing consciousness among community well-wishers regarding the need to regain control of their religious assets, the Kashmiri Pandit activists and concerned individuals are trying to strengthen coordination and push for tangible outcomes.Over the past few months, the efforts put in by them reflect a broader movement to preserve the community’s cultural and spiritual heritage in the Kashmir Valley. They move from place to place and simultaneously work within the community members-both who fled their hearth and homes to escape violence in the 1990s and those who chose to stay put-to raise awareness about addressing the “encroachment, exploitation, and misuse” of temples, shrines, and other religious properties. In cases, they are increasingly receiving support from members of the Valley’s majority Muslim community which is seen by some Pandit activists as a manifestation of cross-community solidarity, reflecting a shared interest in preserving cultural harmony and facilitating the Pandits’ safe return. However, a Pandit activist who spoke with this newspaper on condition of anonymity said that “vested interests” from both communities are trying to come in the way of their effort to regroup through coordinated advocacy, political engagement, and cultural revival to regain control of their religious assets. “They are actually those unscrupulous people who have illegally and unethically benefited from the involuntary migration of the vast majority of Kashmiri Pandits and their leaving personal and community properties, including religious assets like temples and shrines, largely unattended in the Valley,” he said. He added, “Perceptibly, the community well-wishers’ struggle to reclaim their properties and heritage has upset them and they are trying their best to sabotage it.” However, Upender Bhat, a prominent community member, said that neglect, disrepair and mismanagement too have taken toll on ancient and historic places of significance for Kashmiri Pandits. “The 19th of January 1990 was the turning point in the history of Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits. It was a day that triggered the start of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their hearth and home in the Valley. The community left everything behind including the temples, shrines and other establishments that hosted their respective deities,” he said. He added, “The displaced community found solace in replicating some of these temples and shrines in Jammu and other places to renew their bonds with these places which have pivotal places in their hearts.” Bhat said that in the late 1990s, when comparative calm began to return to the Valley, many devotees returned to try to repair and restore the sanctity of the abandoned temples and ashrams and that several new trusts and members came up but the functioning of many of them lacked transparency. “Neither their accounts, their financial statements or the deals of sale and purchase deeds conducted by them have been brought to the public domain. This has resulted in irreparable losses to the community’s assets and shattering the devotees’ trust and faith,” he said. He claimed that some of them are facing charges of embezzlement, the allegations of which are in circulation on social media, further dividing the community rather than resolving the matter. He said that there are disputes involving many managing bodies like Srinagar’s Narayan Math at Solina and Sharika Devi temple and several others that are presently being litigated in various courts. “None of these disputes and the emotively charged debates on social media have resulted in resolving important issues of transparency and accountability,” he said. Bhat, however, also said that, at the same time, some trusts have done remarkable work in maintaining some temples and ashrams during the last three decades. “Those associated with these trusts are quietly maintaining shrines and temples without seeking recognition”, he said. Citing an example, he said that one Professor BN Koul notably managed Sri Ramakrishna Ashram Srinagar at his own expense, never leaving despite its location in a vulnerable area. “He and a few volunteers even purchased land to protect the institution. Similarly, dedicated community members maintained various sacred sites despite limited resources”. He said that later organizations like Bhagwan Gopinath Ji Trust and Zeshta Devi Mandir Prabandhak Committee resumed activities, acquiring assets that benefited the broader community—efforts that deserve recognition. He said that even prior to 1990 there had been several controversies surrounding the alleged misappropriations of funds, sales of assets of the community shrines in the Valley such as the sale of the Noor Bagh cremation land, near the Sharika Temple. He said, “But the community demanded accountability then. A mostly displaced community is now more divided and inclined to remain misinformed or disinterested”. He added, “The community needs to wake up from this slumber and adopt a more proactive role to seek better transparency in the functioning of the community’s collective assets tied to their faith. One of the things that can be done is to revive the demand for regulatory legislation”. Bhat said that, since 1996, activists from the Pandit community have pushed for legislation to protect the Valley’s temples and shrines. He alleged that the Kashmiri Hindus shrines bill introduced in the Assembly of the erstwhile state of J&K in 2009 was stalled by vested interests and despite efforts of community leaders the legislation remains unpassed. He said that during the Farooq Abdullah government (1996-2002), a committee headed by Prof Satish Raina was also formed to look after temples and shrines. Similar initiatives were taken by Dr Razdan from the USA who funded the repairs of many such shrines. “Organizations like Pt. Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust continues advocating for this Act, but government action seems unlikely. With younger generations dispersed and busy, the responsibility falls on current community members to safeguard these assets,” he said. Bhat suggests that if government action isn’t forthcoming, the community could establish its own oversight board “to protect these sacred places from alleged scams, illegal sales, and commercialization until official protection exists.” The government officials here say that Kashmiri Pandit properties are safeguarded under the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection, and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997. This act mandates that unauthorized occupants of migrant properties pay compensation and face eviction, with district magistrates tasked to enforce it. They also said that the J&K government, in coordination with the Central government, supports the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley and they believe that the community members’ rehabilitation in the Valley will help in the restoration of their properties-both personal and community.
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