We are impatiently waiting the report about the damage done to Dastgeer Sahib shrine in Srinagar some weeks ago. Some miscreants tried to torch the Khanqah-e-Faiz Panah shrine in Tral, South Kashmir. In this case the watcher of the shrine saw some youth moving mysteriously around the shrine raised loud noise and the villagers rushed to the spot while the miscreants ran away. Should this be indicative of a larger conspiracy of attempting to set the shrines ablaze and thus create disturbance in the Valley? Is it just a coincidence or calculated conspiracy that as many as five incidents of sacrilege have taken place within one month from June 12 at different places in the Valley? These are: holy Quran burning at Bandipore on 16 June, burning of the shrine of Dastgeer Sahib at Srinagar on 25 June, holy Quran desecration in South Kashmir on 29 June, burning of the shrine of Baba Hanifu’d Din Reshi in Beerwah on 15 July and the burning of the shrine of Syed Sahib in Konibal on 16 July. Attempt of damaging the khanqah at Tral comes close at heels. These shrines are related to the sufi-rishi cultural ethos of Kashmir. Million of people adhering to Sufi culture in Kashmir hold these shrines of saints in high esteem and visit them to pay obeisance. But to the Wahhabis and Salafis, the most conservatives among the Muslims, are dead set against shrines and Sufi ethos saying it is disallowed in Islam. To destroy Kashmir’s tolerant view of faith and to bring the onus to the doorsteps of security forces, malevolent elements in Kashmir are attempting to disrupt peace and order by targeting the shrines. The people have to be cautious about these nefarious designs.
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