This is the moment of mourning. We have lost something that wasn’t just a representative of our spiritual heritage and architectural tradition but a locale of our being. The shrine of Dastageer Sahab(RA) was not only a holy place that drew people in thousands on some special occasions round the year, but a pulsating heart that assured us of our existence as Kashmiri Muslims. It was a relentless proof of the historicity of our faith. It was history standing amidst us with all the details. The elaborate woodwork wasn’t only the marvel of human craft, but the repository of emotion and memory. And all this is now ashes. Our heads are in a painful swirl grappling with the enormity of loss. Our hearts are profusely bleeding and we are unable to measure the wound. This loss is simply indescribable.
An extra ordinary event unfolds in other-than-ordinary ways. The things that are floating in the air are mindboggling. Public response to such a tragedy can bring up many things to surface. But certain things are very concrete and graspable. One such question that stares us all in the face is who is responsible for this catastrophic event in the first place. All our shrines are almost exclusively made in wood. The wood is hundreds of years old. Add to it the amount of paint that has accumulated on these wooden structures. Why was this point missed by the management of the shrine and also the government that ultimately responsible for the safety of the the places and structures extremely important to the people of this Valley. We have a Waqf Board; how could they be so indifferent towards the safety of the shrines. Even the ordinary and not so important government and private structures these days are laced with fire-fighting equipment; why we had nothing in place at Dastageer Sahab! When we know how vulnerable to fire these shrines are, why fire services department didn’t conduct any survey till date and install some fire tenders in the vicinity of these shrines. Someone has to answer this question.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST