BENGALURU: Kashmiri Pandits with backing from ‘Save Sharda Committe’ have urged the Union Government to make an amendment to the law to allow Indians to visit Sharada Peeth in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as previously done in Kartarpur. They have also requested the Union Government to make arrangements for the pilgrimage.
“Indians can only visit Sharda Peeth if they have their relatives there... but many do not. I had visited Kartarpur Gurudwara but why not Sharda Peeth,” questioned the committee head Ravinder Pandita.
The members of the committee were at Bidadi to collect carved stones for the temple construction near the Indian side of Line of Control (LoC) at Teetwal.
The construction is in progress and is expected to be completed in a year. He also claimed that reclamation of the 500 square yards base camp plot on the Indian side and the construction of the temple, burnt in 1947, is in progress with the blessings of Sringeri Mutt.
He added that Muslims in PoK have installed a picture of Sharda Maata inside the shrine in 2017 and they offer flowers. “For the first time, we have documents from the PoK government with a landmark judgment for the preservation of the Peeth and have received an order from the archaeology department on the maintenance of its sanctity. Travel and trade have made people to people contact strong and hence the amendment should be made to allow us to travel,” he demanded.