Indian couple denied permission to offer prayers at Sharada Peeth in PoK

A Hong-Kong based Indian couple, who visited Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), was denied permission to offer prayers at Sharada Peeth, a Hindu temple in Neelam Valley, by the Pakistani authorities.

A couple named P T Venkataraman and Sujatha were, however, allowed to pay reverence to the deities near the bank of a river 100 kilometres away from the shrine.

In a video, Venkataraman said, "We reached Muzaffarabad on September 30 to have darshan of Sharada Devi. We were waiting for the authorities to give us the no-objection certificate, but unfortunately, it was not granted. They gave us permission to perform puja near the bank of Neelam River 100 km from the temple."

In an official statement, the couple said that such an offering was paid in PoK after 72 years.

The couple travelled on a valid visa to the valley where the shrine is located. Venkataraman said that they carried the photo of Goddess Sharda and Swami Nand Lal Ji along with them and worshipped them near a bank of the river.

During their visit, scores of people marched from PoK towards Line of Control (LoC) to create disturbance over the abrogation of Article 370.

"After the puja, they handed over the photos to civil society members of PoK to be installed at Sharda Peeth after the tensions and cross LoC firing stops," said the official statement.