SRINAGAR: Police say they have begun investigating into an incident of “disrespect” to a Sufi shrine in northern Kashmir this morning.
Curtains had been pulled off the hooks and light bulbs smashed in the shrine of Sufi saint Nizam-ud-Din at Delina.
People blocked the highway to protest the incident. But there was no violence, a police official said, and the protesters dispersed off peacefully.
“Senior Police officers of the area are monitoring the situation,” a police spokesperson said.
This is the first such incident this year in the Muslim-majority region.
Last year, a series of incidents involving shrines or mosques happened in the valley, many of them allegedly desecration of relics or the Quran.
It all started after an incident on June 25, when Kashmir shut in mourning for four days after the centuries-old shrine of Iranian saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Geelani or Dastgeer Sahab – as the saint is locally called – was gutted in a mysterious fire.
Nothing has been said clearly yet as to how the fire at Dastgeer Sahab shrine started or who was behind the acts of desecration at six other mosques and shrines. But authorities said they stepped up security at all major shrines and mosques of the region, where faith in shrines runs deep among people.
Ordinary people, however, are angry and believe the incidents were part of a design by “divisive elements” trying to foment trouble in the valley.
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However, sources did not rule out the possibility that the fresh incident was an offshoot of friction among two groups who have been vying over the administrative control of the Shrine.
“The shrine is managed by a Jamia Masjid nearby, and there has been a tussle with another group who are trying to get it under the state Auqaf Board,” the source said.
