Kashmiri Pandits hold protest for quick passage of temple Bill

Demanding immediate passage of a bill that would enable setting up of a body to manage Hindu shrines in Kashmir valley, members of a Kashmiri Pandit group today held a protest march in the city.
The march in support of the Kashmiri Hindu Temples and Shrines Bill, now pending before the state Assembly, was organised by the Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust, the nodal agency seeking its quick passage.
The protesters raised slogans against the delay in the passage of the bill as they paraded through Muthi, a hub of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu.
A spokesman for the Trust said that they were planning to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to obtain their support for the bill.

"There is a regular Wakf to look after Muslim shrines and Gurdwara prabandhak committees to take care of the Sikh shrines, (but) the Hindu shrines and temples in the Valley are without any organised body to look after them," said Trust spokesman DR RL Bhat.
He said that although everybody from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah to the leaders of all the political parties had expressed support for the bill, it was important that they translated their words into action.