Kashmiri Muslims Build Durga Temple

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Hindus in Kashmir village had no temple so Muslims built one

Kashmiri Muslims Build Durga Temple

``Kashmir has witnessed it. So many Pandits migrated. But trust me,

common people have nothing to do with it. It is all politics, all a

well-planned conspiracy.''

from newindia press

Thursday July 10 2003 00:00 IST

ICHHIGAM: Deep in the Kashmir Valley and hundreds of miles from

Ayodhya, little Ichhigam's beeping a big message: you don't need the

Mandir-Masjid players to keep your faith intact. People do it on

their own, and very well at that.

 

Check with 60-year-old Brij Nath Bhat and 70-year-old Rupawati. They

will tell you how they rang the bells on Wednesday at the newly-

constructed Sharika Bhagwati temple in this village, 30 km from

Srinagar. From the nearby Mosque, they could hear the azaan. It were

as if the Muslims had joined them in their prayers. Because it was

they who had constructed the temple, even donated money and parted

with land and trees.

 

Nine hundred Muslim families built this shrine for just eight Hindu

families living in this village. And they did this just metres away

from their own Mosque, Khwaja Sabhun Aastan, on the banks of a stream

that flows out of a sacred spring.

 

Village elder Haji Hakeem Ghulam Mohammad, who heads the local WAKF,

was the moving spirit behind this. ``They wanted to construct a

temple. They told us about it and we were more than willing to help

our neighbours,'' he says. ``We have lived together for generations

here and there was never any distance. Even the turmoil did not harm

this bond.''

 

The Hindus of the village had gathered in the temple compound.

``Today was our first day of prayers at this temple. It has been

possible only because of our Muslim neighbours. For us, everything

has always been normal,'' says Bhat, who spearheaded the construction

work.

 

``They have always been helpful. When things went wrong and scores of

Kashmiri Pandits left, the Muslims encouraged us to stay back. They

stopped us, helped us when we felt scared, took care of our

agricultural lands and orchards. They have always been there for us.''

 

``We had no temple here and when we decided to construct it, our

neighbours even donated money. We are not affluent and their help

through kadmay, sukhnay, dirmay (word and deed) came as a blessing,''

says Bhat.

 

A young man, Khursheed Ahmad Darzi, who runs a grocery just opposite

the temple, underlines the message: ``They are our neighbours and

that is it. They might have a different name or religion but it has

never mattered. See, that young boy in a red T-shirt is Aashu. He is

a Hindu, but how is he different from the other boys?''

 

Abdul Gani Sheikh, another young man, believes politics is the source

of all Hindu-Muslim strife. ``I am sure common people are all alike.

They want to live as we do here. But politicians foment trouble by

dividing them on the basis of religion,'' he says.

 

``Kashmir has witnessed it. So many Pandits migrated. But trust me,

common people have nothing to do with it. It is all politics, all a

well-planned conspiracy.''