The Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s assembly has supported the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposal for the opening of Sharda Peeth Corridor.
On March 29, Awami Muslim League led by Sheikh Rashid proposed in the PoK assembly that a corridor should be built for Kashmiri Pandits to visit Mata Sharda’s temple.
The PoK government has suggested that Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus living in India should be allowed to visit the historic Sharda Peeth temple situated in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
The government of PoK has proposed that on the same lines as the Kartarpur Corridor has been built between the two countries, the Sharda Peeth corridor should be opened as well, and people from India should be allowed to take the pilgrimage.
The Kashmiri Pandit community has welcomed the PoK assembly’s decision. Save Sharda Committee Kashmir has been pushing for the opening of the corridor since 2004.
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‘We have got to know that the assembly of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir has passed a resolution about the opening of the Sharda corridor. We welcome it. Civil society needs to be congratulated. We recently set up a temple at Teetwal on this side which was inaugurated by the home minister and he on that day said that they will work on the opening of the corridor. The civil society has a role, and we want it to be opened on the same pattern as Kartarpur and it will be a great confidence-building measure,” said Ravindra Pandita, Head and Founder, Save Sharda Committee.
Recently, Sharda Mata Temple was inaugurated near the Line of Control in the Teetwal area of the Kupwara district. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah virtually inaugurated the temple and said that the Government of India will try for the opening of Sharda Peeth on the lines of the Kartarpur Corridor.
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The same has been now supported by the PoK Assembly. The home minister had said that the Government of India will work in this direction so that devotees can get a chance to visit Sharda Peeth in PoK.
However, the PoK Assembly’s decision has not gone well with the Pakistan establishment. There seems to be a difference of opinion between the people of PoK and Pakistan officials.
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Opposing the move, former Pakistan Ambassador to India Abdul Basit said, “The Sharda Peeth has an importance for Kashmiri Pandits and on the lines of Kartarpur they want to open the Sharda Peeth corridor. The members of the assembly have passed a resolution of opening the corridor. It has come from the Kashmiri leader. The Kartarpur corridor is an international border, This is not an international border. We have always wanted that this Line of Control should not exist.”
The Kashmiri Pandit community hopes that the two countries will rise above politics and make sure to open the corridor for the devotees.
