Srinagar,June 26: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed concern at the hasty cleaning operations at the gutted shrine of Dastgeer Sahab (RA) undertaken during the night.
A party spokesman said whether this was opportune to remove all evidence even before the government had ordered an enquiry into the cause of this unfortunate incident. He said given the governments track record in enquiries ordered by it, very few people would expect the truth to come out but destroying all physical evidence before the enquiry could take off has rendered it all the more futile and cosmetic.
The spokesman expressed serious concern at the government’s inability to safeguard the shrines, dotting various places of the valley which have a tremendous religious significance and heritage value. He said the press reports that a highly respected organization like the INTACH had repeatedly warned the government about serious threat to these wooden assets of great architectural value had been ignored by the government and the Waqf Board amounts to criminal negligence. The government and the Waqf Board must come out with an explanation for this serious dereliction of duty.
The spokesman said it is a matter of grave concern that some ruling party politicians who also are part of the Waqf Board have been interfering in the matters of prominent shrines as if they are their personal property. “Such interference and lack of any discipline in dealing with these delicate structures could be one reason for the Khanyar catastrophe,” the spokesman said, adding the constitution of Waqf Board was done basically to keep it above partisan politics and the composition of first Waqf Board reflected this healthy change.
“While it had representatives of different walks of life like religious scholars, businessmen, academics, engineers, doctors, scientists and other professionals the Omar Abdullah government reversed the process and stuffed the board with ruling party politicians, relatives and favorites bringing the whole reform exercise to a naught. This situation will need to be changed if the Waqf Board has to produce different results,” the spokesman added.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST