Shrine reopens

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, OCT. 7. After reconstruction over six years and four months the 600-year-old shrine of the Sufi saint, Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, has a new look, though the architecture remains the same.

The new Charar-e-Sharief complex was formally opened to the public today. The Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who is also the Chairman of the Muslim Auqaf Trust (MAT) which manages shrines and mosques in the State, unveiled the stone recording the date of completion of the reconstruction of the shrine. It was gutted in a two-month stand-off between militants, led by the Afghan warlord Mast Gul, and security forces on May 10, 1995. The Government and the separatists had blamed each other for the inferno.

In his speech, Dr. Abdullah decried those who were inimical to Kashmiriyat. ``The way of life of the people cannot be determined by force and the gun.'' Condemning militants for torching the shrine, he said that by using such tactics no particular ideology could be thrust upon the people. ``If we have overcome all our problems, it is due to the grace of Allah and blessing of the saints.''

Criticising the leaders of the Hurriyat Conference for grabbing the huge amount collected under Alamdar Fund, he said they should immediately deposit the same with the Government. He alleged that they were responsible for the destruction in Kashmir, which they were using for their vested interests.

The MAT Vice-Chairman, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Kochak, said that the complex was built at a cost of Rs. 3 crores. The reconstruction work had started in 1996.

Work on the `khankah' adjacent to the shrine, which was also razed to the ground, would start soon. ``Sheikh Nooruddin was the symbol of secularism,'' Mr. Kochak told the gathering, adding that the late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had been inspired to carry out land reforms from his sayings.

Even as a few hundred people attended the function, the town observed a hartal. The people were demanding that a world-famous scholar inaugurate the shrine and not the Chief Minister.

Following intelligence reports that militants might try to disrupt the ceremony, the authorities had made elaborate security arrangements. Some residents said that an undeclared curfew had been imposed by the administration since Saturday and civilians were not allowed to move out of their houses.

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