A Kashmiri Pandit organisation today asked the Jammu and Kashmir Government to pass the pending Hindu Temples and Shrines Bill during the ongoing Budget session of the state Legislature.
"In the absence of any institutional mechanism for the preservation of the temples and shrines in Kashmir, the land mafia is free to indulge in the annexation of the said properties with impunity and without fear of law. We thus request the Government to pass the J&K Temples and Shrines Bill in this session," Virender Raina, a member of the Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust, told reporters here.
The Trust is the nodal Kashmiri Pandit organisation, which is spearheading the movement for getting the Kashmiri Hindu Shrines, Temples and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) bill passed at the earliest by the state Assembly.
Raina said that these temples and shrines are the symbols of religious beliefs and need to be protected.
"The failure to bring a legislation to this effect is subjecting the priceless heritage to continued loot and vandalisation," he said.
Raina added that the government is fully aware of the situation and has accepted this dire state of affairs, but it is really surprising that they have not passed the Bill in this regard, which is pending in the House since last few years.
