Srinagar: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday criticized the Rajasthan court’s notice to the Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) over a petition claiming that the iconic Ajmer Sharif Dargah was built on the remains of a Shiva temple.
She alleged that certain judicial decisions were dividing the country on religious lines.
The notice, issued in response to a civil suit filed by the president of Hindu Sena, also involves the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Ajmer Dargah Committee. The petitioner has argued that the revered Muslim shrine stands on what was originally a Shiva temple.
Mufti referred to a past judgment by a former Chief Justice of India, claiming it had “opened the Pandora’s box” and sparked debates targeting minority religious sites. “Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling to maintain the status quo as it existed in 1947, that judgment has paved the way for site surveys, further inflaming tensions between Hindus and Muslims and could lead to bloodshed in the country,” she told reporters as per news agency KINS.
She also linked recent communal violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, to the ongoing targeting of Muslim places of worship, including mosques and shrines like Ajmer Sharif. “These developments are reminiscent of the partition days, potentially leading to more bloodshed. Who will take responsibility for the communal violence being perpetuated? Gandhi Ji developed a secular nation which is now changing,” she said. (KINS)
Mehbooba warns of ‘rising communal tensions’
