KPs flay vandalisation of Mata Tripursundri Temple;Seek adequate security at Hindu shrines in Valley

 STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: In the wake of several incidents of desecration of temples in Jammu and Kashmir over last one month, displaced Kashmiri Pandits on Wednesday held protests blaming the BJP-PDP Government of failing to protect religious places and clashed with the police. The protesters also blocked the highway.
A joint forum of Kashmiri Pandits comprising over 400 people today took out a protest rally from outside the Press Club here. Raising anti-government, anti-police and anti-administration slogans, the protesters marched to Dogra Chowk on the highway in the city and blocked traffic by lying down on the road. Police tried to clear the highway with a brief clash with the protesters.
Some unidentified persons had vandalised the temples of Mata Tripursundri at Devsar in Kulgam District and Mata Ragniya at Loktipora in Anantnag District recently. In Trispursundri temple, a cash locker and other valuables were looted.
“Government and police have failed to protect the places of worship from repeated attacks,” Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS) President R.K Bhat told reporters here.
The Kashmiri Pandit leaders demanded security in and around the temples and shrines, including CRPF pickets. Successive governments have failed to enact Kashmir Temples and Shrines bill which has led to such incidents, they claimed.
The demonstrators also demanded that the culprits be brought to book immediately and exemplary punishment meted out.
Among the organisations which took part in the protest were All State Kashmir Pandit Conference (ASKPC), Kashmir Pandit Sabha, Amphalla, N C Minority Cell (NC), Youth All India Kashmir Samaj (YAIKS), All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS), Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust, Lokh Janshakti Party (LJP) and Panun Kashmir (PK).