March 04
Last month, Mohammed Younis was among the two Kashmiri dry fruit vendors brutally assaulted by a right-wing mob for his Kashmiri identity in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. Today Younis unsettled 50-year-old Mohammad Younis, who is a resident of Pulwama is volunteering for the construction of a temple in his village in this south Kashmir district.
The Muslim residents of Acchan in Pulwama for the past few weeks have been busy renovating an old Shiv temple in the locality.
Sanjay Sharma who is a member of the only Pandit family in the area speaking to The Kashmiriyat said, “In our village, we all have grown up together in harmony. We live together and there has never been any incident of violence in Acchan. Earlier there were four families left here, But now we are the only Pandit family here.”
with years, the only temple of the area craving for attention started withering and a sprig that was inside the premises of the temple also dried up. “When the temple was about to collapse, the local Auqaf committee (Mosque caretakers) stepped in and took up the renovation work of the temple,” a local resident said.
Younis said that the locals approached te admin several times to save the temple, however, nothing was done to save or reconstruct the temple. “After hectic effors of the locals, the administration allocated Rs 4 lakh for the renovation work,” younis said.
He said that his childhood has passed off hearing the early bells from the temples. “I was brutally attacked in Lucknow merely because I was a Kashmiri. But no amount of hatred can change us. we want Kashmiri pandits to return home.”
The development comes at a time when Kashmiri students and businessmen are being attacked in various states of India.
Sanjay thanked the members of Auqaf committee and said it was because of their efforts that the renovation work took off.