SRINAGAR, May 15: In a display of communal harmony, Pandits and Muslims today began renovation of the 400-year-old Vitaal Bhairav temple in Rainawari area of Srinagar city.
“The walls of the temple will be repaired and a new wall will also be built around the shrine’s precincts,” a member of the Rainawari Action Forum, which is spear-heading the project said.
The temple structure is being repaired for the first time ever since militancy broke out in Kashmir two decades ago.
The joint initiative by Muslims and members of the minority Pandit community is being perceived as a significant step to send signals of safety to Pandits, who left valley in the early nineties after militancy erupted.
“This is another step towards reconciliation and a move to encourage more Pandits to return to the Valley,” Rajan Nakhasi was quoted by wire agency PTI.
Nakhasi, who was born in the neighbourhood, moved to Delhi in the 1990s at the peak of militancy in the Valley.
“I thank the Muslims in Rainawari area for their cooperation in helping restore the temple,” he added.
The shrine, which is believed to be the resting place of local deity Vitaal Bhairav, was recently in the news when a conglomeration of several community organisations demanded a CBI probe into the “illegal” sale of the temple land.
