Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 10: Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust (PNBMT) organised a meeting today to express its serious concern over the reported encroachment of Temple and Shrines land in Kashmir. The meeting also announced that the function to award the “Amateur Journalist Awards” would be held in the month of October. The awardees are selected by an elite panel every year to select the upcoming journalists who contributed to the national cause and the cause of the community.
The meeting was chaired by the acting chairman of the Trust Shiban Khaibri and was attended by Utpal Koul, a senior activist of the community who had come from Delhi specially for this purpose. President Panun Kashmir, Virender Raina was also present in the meeting.
Utpal Koul expressed serious concern over the encroachment of temple properties in Kashmir and the recent cases of encroachment at Rainawari and the alienation of a large chunk of temple land at Nunar near Ganderbal. He added that why we can not have a similar institutional mechanism like Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee or Wakf Board for the protection of our temples and properties.
Virender Raina said that the time has come when community has to intensify the struggle for the reclamation of its temples and homeland in Kashmir. He added that Article 370 has removed the legal and Constitutional edifice of the separatism in Kashmir.
Shiban Khaibri said that the temples in Kashmir are the symbols of our 5000 year old civilization and need to be protected for posterity. Khaibri added that with the conditions prevailing in Kashmir the need for the Temples Bill is absolutely essential. He said that in the days to come we should be meeting all the important functionaries of the Government in this regard.
The prominent who attended the function included Adv.Kashmiri Lal, Manmohan Thaploo, Sundri Lal Koul, M.K.Bharat, H.L.Bhat and others.
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