Excelsior Correspondent
BENGALURU, May 5: The Save Sharda Temple Committee founder Ravinder Pandita has demanded that the prayer at Sharda temple in the Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) should be resumed.
Addressing a press conference at the Press Club here, today Pandita said when all the religious shrines in conflict zones never stopped worshiping, why it was stopped in Sharda temple for the past 72 years, which was a major seat of learning in the ancient India.
He also demanded that the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan should allow Hindu pilgrims to travel to Sharda temple.
“Ever since the Kartarpur Gurudwara was reopened after 72 years, the Indian and Pakistan Government who sat across the table, formed a draft and that was signed,. We say that if Kartarpur has been reopened, why not Sharada. I myself travelled to Kartarpur, why I am not allowed to travel to Sharada Peeth,” Pandita pointed out.
Pandita said he was twice denied permission by the Government of India to visit Sharda.
He said the temple at the Sharda base camp at Teetwal on the LOC is being built in approx 500 sq yards.
The land was discovered and demarcated by the local residents who are also assisting in constructing the temple, he explained.
He also said that his mission is being supported by many including the Sringeri Sharada Peeth in Karnataka.
The Peeth has approved the map of the temple and are offering Panchaloha (5 metals) statue of the Goddess and other support for the reconstruction and reclamation of this temple, Pandita said.
The new temple will also accommodate a Sikh Gurudwara as used to exist in 1947. Revenue records showed there was Sikh land, said the Save Sharada Temple Committee founder.
The superstructure of temple is being sculpted in Bengaluru, which will be transported to Teetwal, said Pandita.
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