The J&K Government has said it did not rename the two hills, which has Hindu names, as claimed by some Kashmiri Hindu groups that staged protests in Delhi.
The groups alleged that the J&K Government renamed the Shankaracharya hill here as ‘Takht-e-Sulaiman’ and Hariparbat range as ‘Kohi-e-Maran’.
The Shankarachayara temple is situated atop the Shankaraychaya hill and there is a temple on the Hariparbat.
A shrine of renowned and revered Sufi saint Sheikh Hamza, popularly known as Makhdoom Sahib, is also located on the Hariparbat and hundreds of devotees visit the shrine everyday. The Shankarachaya hill is located at a height of 1,100 ft.
The Hindu groups and some Kashmiri Hindus staged a protest in Jantar Mantar on Sunday to protest against the renaming of the hillocks.
A spokesman of the All Parties Migrants Co-ordination Committee (APMCC) said the protest was held against the “discriminatory attitude” of the Jammu & Kashmir and Central Governments towards Kashmiri Hindus.
He said they have asked the government to come clean on the name-change of various Hindu religious places in Kashmir.
Reacting to the protests, Jammu &Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a series of tweets denied that the government had renamed the hillocks. “There is no proposal by the State government to change the name of Shankracharaya Hill in Srinagar,” Omar said.
He further said he spoke to officials of Archeological Survey of India officials in this regard. “They told me that there was no such proposal,” he said.
He said he had wanted to stay out of this discussion since it was based on figments of imagination.
“There have always been parallel names for Shankracharaya hill & always will be. This is not the only place with two or more names.”
“So can we please put this unnecessary drama to rest and stop manufacturing an issue where none exist,” the Chief Minister said.