Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust organized a protest Demonstration at outside Jammu Press Club today

Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust organised a Protest Demonstration at outside Jammu Press Club today demanding the passage of the Temples and Shrines Bill in Kashmir.The protest demonstration was led by the leadership of the trust including its Chairman,executive body and other prominent members of the Kashmiri Pandit society.PNBMT is the premier Kashmiri Pandit organization that has been entrusted with the noble mission of spearheading the movement for the passage of the Temples and Shrines Bill in Kashmir, meant for the protection and preservation of the ancient places of worship of the Hindus of Kashmir. It is pertinent to mention here that PNBMT has been nominated unanimously by the KP community as Nodal Organisation for bringing a bill for the protection of Temples, Shrines, Ashrams, Cremation grounds, Shishu Samadhis and all the Immovable properties thereof.

         In the protest demonstration today the members of the trust raised slogans and appealed to the honorable Lt. Governor to bring the Temples and Shrines Bill. In this connection the members requested the hon. Lt. Governor to invite the leadership of the trust to apprise him about the condition of temples in Kashmir and the acute necessity of bringing a bill for their protection. The members raised banners and placards displaying the neglect and pathetic conditions of the temples and temple properties in Kashmir. The members expressed anguish over the manner in which the temple properties have been allowed to dwindle over the years.Members said that the passing of the Temple Bill would go a long way in building confidence in the exiled community for resettlement in Kashmir.

   The administrative measures have not been able to prevent the loot and plunder of the temples in Kashmir for the last three decades and that’s the reason a bill on the lines of Wakf or Gurudwara Prabandhak Comittee alone is the need of the hour.

     After the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 the temples of Kashmir faced systematic acts of destruction and vandalization. The temple properties were usurped and appropriated by unscrupulous elements. There are hundreds of such cases, the latest being the encroachment of the places of worship at Karkutnag, Hangalgund, Vomoh Verinag and Gulmarg.The details about the usurpation of these temples are already in public domain.PNBMT in its struggle for the last more than a decade was able to create a global consciousness regarding the temples of Kashmir which are symbols of 5000 years old civilization of Kashmir. The political class of the state and all the Chief Ministers of the day, expressed their complete support in favour of the Temples Bill, yet it could not be passed.

    In the light of the recent High Court judgement, the members appealed to all the temple committees to immediately report any incidence of encroachment to the concerned DCs with intimation to PNBMT, so that all such acts of illegal occupation of the temple lands can be vacated forth with. The temple committees were also advised to update the land records with the concerned revenue authorities in this regard.

  All the prominent members of the trust participated in the protest demonstration and demanded the Passage of the Temples and Shrines Bill.