- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The holy water had to travel to Europe and back to subcontinent since postal services between India and Pakistan are temporarily suspended after the Balakote operations of 2019.
By: Shubham Ghosh
A MUSLIM man collected holy water from the Sharda Peeth Kund in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and sent it to India via the UK, through a chain of carriers, to be used in the Ram temple consecration ceremony that was held in the northern Indian holy town of Ayodhya on Monday (22).
Ravinder Pandita, founder of Save Sharda Committee Kashmir (SSCK), a pressure group that seeks reopening of the pilgrimage, said the holy water had to take the circuitous route due to the suspension of postal services between India and Pakistan since the Balakote airstrikes following the Pulwama terror attack that killed several Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019.
“The holy water of the Sharda Kund at the Sharda Peeth PoK was collected by Tanveer Ahmed and his team. Our civil society member across the LoC (Line of Control) carried it to Islamabad, wherefrom it was sent to his daughter Maghribi in the UK. Maghribi, in turn, handed it over to Sonal Sher, a Kashmiri Pandit activist who came to Ahmedabad in India in August 2023. From there, it reached me in Delhi,” Pandita said.
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He said the holy water had to travel to Europe and back to the subcontinent “all because postal services between India and Pakistan are temporarily suspended… after the Balakote operations.”
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“They sent us soil, shilas and now water from the kund. It is a matter of pride that the same is being used in Ram Mandir pran pratishtha on January 22, 2024. This is the second major event after the Sharda temple pran pratishtha on June 5 last year by the Shankracharya of Sringeri,” he added.
Our Manjunath Sharma ji is in Ayodhya to handover holy water of Sharda kund from Sharda peeth PoK and many rivers of J&K in pran pratishtha of Ram mandir Ayodhya. Earlier we had sent pious soil & shila for shilanyas during foundation ceremony 3 years ago to Ram mandir.
Jai Siya… pic.twitter.com/3ftDu9opJD— Ravinder Pandita(Save Sharda) (@panditaAPMCC63) January 18, 2024
The Sharda Sarvagnya Peeth has been inaccessible since 1948. Last month, SSCK appealed to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of encroachment by the Pakistani Army at Sharda Peeth.
It was a tremendous effort yet again to procure sharda peeth PoK holy kund water for pran pratishtha of Ram mandir Ayodhya.
Earlier we had sent holy soil & shilas during shilanyas of Ram mandir a few years ago.
This is IInd pran pratishta after sharda temple Teetwal since… https://t.co/lQNNpYcdG4 pic.twitter.com/zVBltWIrwo— Ravinder Pandita(Save Sharda) (@panditaAPMCC63) January 20, 2024
Pandita said SSCK member Manjunath Sharma handed over the holy water to leaders of the Hindu right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad who presented it to senior functionary Koteshwar Rao in Ayodhya on Saturday (20).
He added that SSCK members will light diyas (earthen lights) on January 22 at the Sharda Temple near the LoC at Teetwal in Kupwara district of Kashmir, India, to celebrate the occasion.
