Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 7: Shri Jawala Ji Samiti Khrew (SJJSK) has made an appeal to Kashmiri Pandit organizations to support it in its crusade to get the encroached land of Jawla Ji, Khrew restored to the holy shrine.
In a statement issued here, today, the Samiti said that in case any delay on the part of community to get the recent encroachment vacated and fencing around the ten kanals of shrine land made by some unscrupulous elements removed, the trespassing of Hindu religious places and other properties will go unabated in Valley in near future.
The statement said, that the Jawala Ji Shrine of Khrew is the presiding deity of millions of Hindus in general and Kashmiri Pandits in particular where thousands of pilgrims used to visit on annual festival of Ashard Chaturdashi prior to mass exodus of Pandits from Valley.
The Samiti said that it has taken up the issue of recent encroachment of 10 kanals of land of shrine with both Central and State Governments and the construction of graveyard on the shrine land has been stopped after the same.
The statement further said that Jawala Ji Asthapan had 801 kanals of land around the main Asthapan. Before the mass exodus of Pandits from Valley, the devotees used to make a Parikarma which was well defined and there was a clear path around it which was used to be as the demarcated area of the Asthapan. The Samiti, however apprehended that the revenue records might have been tampered after the exodus in last three decades. It said in response to the RTI submitted by the Samiti in the Office of Tehsildar, Pampore in Pulwama district it was mentioned that 231 kanals and eight marlas of land belong to the Asthapan and it is under the control of the J&K Dharmarth Trust.
The Samiti said that the 10 kanals of land presently encroached falls within the 231 kanals and eight marlas of land mentioned in RTI and same needs to be restored to the shrine.
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