A five-member delegation of Pakistan Hindu Council, led by ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, visited an ancient ‘temple’ site in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) on Tuesday, in what is believed to pave way for throwing the area open for religious tourism.
Located in Sharda, some 137 kilometres northeast ofMuzaffarabad in the upper belt of Neelum valley, the temple is revered by theHindu community, particularly the Kashmiri Pandits.
On the other side of Kashmir, a committee under the name”Save Sharda” has been campaigning for opening up of an exclusive crossingalong the Line of Control for “pilgrimage” to Sharda by the Hinducommunity. The committee is led byRavinder Pandita.
In March this year, a section of Pakistani media had(wrongly) claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan had given a “green signal” toopen Sharda Temple Corridor in PaK for the Hindu pilgrims.
However, sources in the PaK government told Greater Kashmirthat immediately they had no plans to allow visitors from across the divide tothis site.
According to them, a few months back PaK Prime Minister RajaFarooq Haider had indicated at a high level meeting that Pakistan based Hinducommunity would be allowed, in the first place, to visit Sharda.
It was in the wake of this decision that senior civilian andmilitary authorities had undertaken a joint visit to Sharda to see forthemselves the facilities and requirements in the event of inflow of religioustourists.
Both authorities had resolved to take joint measures “on anurgent basis” to protect archaeological sites and promote ecotourism in PaK.
According to sources, Prime Minister Haider had made up hismind around same time to invite Dr Vankwani as a first Hindu visitor to thearea.
Dr Vankwani arrived in Muzaffarabad late on Monday alongwith four other members of Pakistan Hindu Council, and called on Haider at adinner in the PM House.
Speaking to them, Haider pointed out that Kashmir was hometo the followers of different religions and faiths since centuries and enjoyedexemplary religious harmony. “Religiousextremism had never found space in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in KashmirValley… Even the struggle against autocratic regime was not on religious linesbut it was aimed at achieving long suppressed political and civil rights,” hesaid.
He told the visitors that his government had conceived acomprehensive plan to protect and revive the worship and other sacred places ofnon-Muslims and only recently he had visited a Hindu temple in the heart ofMuzaffarabad city to see for himself its repair and renovation work.
Vankwani expressed his gratitude to the PaK premier and saidsince Sharda was a revered site for Hindus they wanted to work in close coordinationwith the PaK government for its renovation and preservation.
According to sources, Vankwani and his colleagues wereaccompanied to Sharda by PaK Secretary for Tourism and Information MidhatShahzad, Director General Tourism and Archaeology Pirzada Irshad Ahmed and someother officials on the direction of PM Haider.
However, they could not be reached on phone due to weakmobile phone coverage in the mountainous area.