India is restoring religious sites in Kashmir, including Hindu temple fled during conflict

Raghunath temple in Srinagar, Kashmir. Photo by Basit Zargar.

SRINAGAR — The Indian government is sponsoring renovations of several different religious sites in Srinagar, Kashmir, where troops have enforced a strict lockdown since August 2019 when India’s only Muslim-majority region was stripped of its semi-autonomy.

Restoration work has begun on a Hindu temple, Sikh gurudwara, a church, an Imambara for certain Muslim ceremonies and two Muslim shrines. The temple carries the most symbolic meaning for Kashmiris because hundreds of temples were vacated in the 1990’s when Kashmiri Hindus (also called Pandits) fled the region during an armed rebellion against Indian rule.

Kashmir acceded to India at the time of India’s independence in 1947 rather than merging with a Muslim Pakistan. Nearly 7 million people live in the Kashmir Valley, 97% of them Muslims. In the last three decades, at least 47,000 people have been killed in conflict, mainly between Indian security forces and Kashmiri militant separatists, according to government figures. Kashmir is claimed in total by both Pakistan and India, who have gone to war over it several times, and is one of the world’s most militarized regions. 

After settling outside Kashmir, leaving behind their homes, businesses and places of worship, many Pandits lived in one room tenements in cramped transit camps in the northern city of Jammu. Successive governments promised better accommodation and facilities to them but implementation remained slow on the ground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned on a promise to increase Delhi’s control of the region and free it from Pakistani terrorism. He has expressed sympathy for Pandits but ignored reports of human rights abuses like Kashmiri youth arbitrarily detained, threatened and beaten.

There are a total of 1,842 Hindu places of worship in Kashmir including temples, shrines, holy springs, holy caves and holy trees. Of the 952 temples, 212 are running while 740 are in a dilapidated condition, according to government figures. Just 65 temples remained open after Pandits left Kashmir in the early nineties. They were open mainly due to the presence of security forces or non-migrant Pandits living in the vicinity. In 1997-1998, 35 temples were revived, mostly in the villages with the help of Kashmiri Muslims. From 2003 till date, 72 more temples have been revived by the tourism department in collaboration with the managing committees of the temples.

The soon to be restored Raghunath temple is situated on the banks of the river Jhelum in Srinagar. The temple dedicated to Lord Ram was first constructed by the Hindu King of Kashmir Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1835.

Sanjay Tickoo, President of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), an organization of Kashmiri Pandits, is currently hunger striking in a temple complex in Srinagar for the rights of the 808 Pandit families who didn’t leave Kashmir.  He says most temples in Kashmir, particularly those situated on banks of river Jehlum, are crumbling and need immediate attention. 

“All those temples which are in a dilapidated condition need renovation,” he said. “Why is the focus just on one temple?”

Tickoo said experiments for reviving temples in Kashmir have been done in the past as well but a lack of devotees has always been an issue. He said if a temple is opened, it is imperative to have devotees visit it. Otherwise the whole purpose gets defeated. Since the lockdown and then the coronavirus pandemic, tourism to the Himalayan region has been much lower than normal.

The handful of Pandits living in Kashmir cannot go to all the temples, Tickoo said. He also believes it is a sin to leave a temple unattended.

"You don't open a temple to show it in the media and the same temple is closed later,” he said. “I think that is the biggest sin. While talking about the renovation of temples, it is also important that somebody is there to light a candle in the temple in the morning and in the evening." 

He said if need be, the majority Muslim community must come forward to help with the temples. In 2018, a temple in the Achan area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district was renovated with the help of local Muslims, for example.

“There were only three Pandit families living in Achan, and they approached the Muslims to help them reconstruct the temple,” he said. “The Muslims came forward and readily did that.” 

Since their migration from Kashmir, the return of Pandits has been promised by all political parties but without much success. A scheme for resettling Pandits was launched during the Congress Party-led UPA government 11 years ago. It was seen as a significant effort for the return of Pandits to Kashmir. As part of a rehabilitation scheme, 3,000 Kashmiri Pandits were given government jobs in transit accommodations in colonies guarded by the security forces to settle with their families back in Kashmir. Later in a bid to woo the Kashmiri Pandits, Modi’s BJP government revived the plan to resettle Pandits in Kashmir. Their package included a one-time revival of agricultural and horticultural land and scholarships for school-going children.

But the difficulties of Kashmiri Pandits who took the plunge of returning to Kashmir despite security concerns didn’t end. Besides feeling a sense of social isolation in Kashmir, the complicated procedures force them to go hundreds of kilometers to Jammu to the relief commissioner’s office for basic administrative needs.

Sanjay Raina, living in one such colony at Sheikhpora in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district for the last 10 years, said it is very stressful for them to live in Kashmir while their families are living in Jammu and other places in India. He said things have gotten worse in times of the pandemic. His sister died in Jammu in April.

“I really had a tough time going to Jammu to be with my family in that hour of grief,” he said.

Since the eruption of militancy in Kashmir, the emphasis has been largely on providing relief and rehabilitation to migrant Kashmiri Pandits. However, that changed after the government reached out to non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits as well and brought them under the Prime Minister's employment package by earmarking jobs for them in Kashmir equal to migrant Pandits. This was seen as a welcome step to prevent further flight of Pandits whose numbers have been constantly dwindling in Kashmir.

Tickoo said the upkeep of renovated temples is possible if residential complexes for Pandits are constructed on their premises as well.

“Since most temples are in Muslim neighborhoods, this will also help to revive the composite culture of Kashmir lost to violence,” he said.

Local Muslims are welcoming the renovation of the Raghunath temple, even though there aren’t any Pandits living in the vicinity of the temple anymore. Ghulam Mohamamd Shah living in that neighborhood for the last 10 years, said Muslims are looking forward to the return of Kashmiri Pandits. He said the shut temple was in ruins and encouraged criminal activity in its premises.

“With the temple shut and with no devotees the place had become a spot for gamblers and anti-social elements. People living in fear in the neighborhood were forced to stay home after dark with their windows and doors shut,” he said.

After Pandits fled Kashmir, most Kashmiris favored their return, but opinions differed on whether they should be settled in exclusive conclaves or live alongside the Kashmiri Muslim population. Most Kashmiri Pandits say their return has been reduced to mere electoral politics with political parties talking about it in their election manifestos but doing nothing practically.

Last year a controversy was triggered after a minister in the Modi government reportedly said that around 50,000 temples were closed over the years in Jammu and Kashmir, of which some were destroyed, and their idols were defaced. The minister said a survey has been ordered and the temples vandalized in Jammu and Kashmir needed restoration.

While contesting those claims, Sanjay Tickoo said the figures given by the minister were vastly exaggerated.

“There are a total of 5,000 temples in the entire Jammu and Kashmir, which includes ancient and heritage temples,” he said.

Basit Zargar is a Kashmir-based photojournalist.

Zaffar Iqbal is a journalist based in Kashmir, India. He has reported for 18 years on armed encounters, environmental issues, crime, politics, culture and human rights. He’s formerly the bureau chief of Jammu and Kashmir for NDTV.