By IRNA,
Srinagar, India : As violence shows no signs of abating over the land row in Kashmir, all ten members of the controversial Hindu shrine board on Wednesday stepped down to pave way for reconstitution of the controversial Sri Amarnath Shrine Board, a body entrusted with the maintenance of annual Hindu pilgrimage into South Kashmir Himalayas.
“To facilitate the reconstitution of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), the present members have tendered their resignations to Governor N N Vohra, who is also the Chairman of the Shrine Board,” a spokesman of the Board said.
The resignations come a day after Vohra hinted that he was not averse to giving up the chairmanship of the Board in an apparent bid to resolve the impasse on the land issue.
Vohra, in his meeting with members of Shri Amarnathji Yatra Sangarash Samiti (SAYSS) that is spearheading the violent agitation in Jammu had mentioned that the induction of eminent persons from various regions of Jammu and Kashmir would inspire confidence in the functioning of the Board.
The members who have resigned are — Justice (Retd) G D Sharma, Prof Vishnu Murti Shastri, Sunil Sachdeva, Manoj Gaur, Vimla Dhar, Neerja Mattoo, Raghu Modi and Arun Kumar, the spokesman said.
Besides the governor, another member of the Board is the principal secretary to the governor, who functions as the chief executive officer of the SASB.
Several political parties in the state had earlier suggested that the Board be reconstituted and eminent personalities from the state be given representation in it.
Well placed sources told IRNA that government sought the resignations from the all non-Kashmiri members in order to induct local members who had been shunted out by the previous governor.
These sources said it was likely that Dr Karan Singh, former president of Kashmir and scion of last Maharaja from Jammu, will be nominated as chairman of the board.
These sources said that governor was keen on including members of Muslim Malik family into the newly constituted board as they were unceremoniously stripped of the benefits they would receive from the offerings made to the cave shrine by Hindu devotees by the previous board.
It is noteworthy that the origin of Amarnath Yatra dates back to the year 1850 AD, when a Muslim shepherd from south Kashmir, named Buta Malik first discovered the cave.
Meanwhile Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti (SASS), which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in Jammu over the land issue, on Wednesday refused to soften its stand and said it will settle for nothing less than revocation of the government’s order cancelling transfer of nearly 100 acres of land to the shrine board.
The SASS also turned down Governor N N Vohra’s invitation to visit the controversial forest land at Bhatal in Kashmir to see for themselves arrangements made for Hindu devotees.
“We have already made the SASS stand clear to the governor that nothing short of revocation of cancellation order and restoration of powers to the Board will be acceptable,” he said.