The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti has hit out at the Jammu and Kashmir and Central Government saying that a similar bill like the WAQF should be passed for the protection of Hindu religious places across the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The KPSS threatens that if the demands are not met by the government, they will be left with no other option than to go to the Supreme Court.
Sanjay Tickoo, the head of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti has said that more than 1400 temples and associated properties across Jammu and Kashmir have been encroached. He also alleges that these encroachments have taken place with support from the Political circuit as well as the administration.
''If the WAQF bill that has been passed is for the benefit of the Muslim community, on the same lines we want a Sanatan board which can work for the protection of the temples across India and Kashmir. The temples in the Valley were left in a devastated state as the community had to leave, we want a shrine board to safeguard the temples and the Kashmiri community people be a part of it, '' said Sanjay Tickoo, President, KPSS.
''There are around 1400 properties which have been encroached upon, fake sale deeds have been made, and this is not possible unless these officials and politicians work together with them. The new slogan of KPSS is that Sanatan Board should be formed and both Sanatan and Wakf Board should work together, '' He further added.
The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) also said that it is morally reprehensible and legally indefensible that the Jammu Kashmir assembly which has never, in 35 long years, uttered a single word in defence of encroached temples, desecrated shrines, or the illegal transfer of thousands of kanals of Hindu endowment land suddenly erupts in anguish when the question of regulating Waqf properties arises.
“Whatever the Pandit community of Jammu and Kashmir is demanding is completely justified and it should happen. When they were driven away from here, their property and land were forcibly taken away, and now if the Pandit community is asking and demanding a bill, the government should pass the bill, '' said Altaf Thakur, BJP Spokesperson.
According to KPSS, ''In line with the principles of justice, secularism, and the rule of law, we reiterate our unambiguous demand: the Parliament and the Union Territory administration must immediately table a comprehensive “Temples and Shrines Protection, Preservation and Restoration Bill,” specifically aimed at safeguarding, restoring, and accounting for the thousands of desecrated, usurped, or destroyed religious properties belonging to the minority Hindu community of Kashmir. This is not a political agenda; this is a legal necessity and moral compulsion.''