THE MUSLIM CONNECTION

It is said that some 300 years ago (another version says 400 years) a Muslim shepherd Bota Malik while looking for his missing goat came across a sadhu who gave him a sack of coal. When the man returned to home with it, he discovered that the black fuel had turned into sparkling gold. He rushed back to thank his benefactor but could not find him. But what he found was a cave that is now the famous Amarnath cave-shrine. Another story goes; while chasing the goat the shepherd relocated to the cave. And when he returned home, he visited a nearby temple to narrate the story about what he had seen inside the cave to a priest.

The Maliks had been fully associated with the yatra till the formation of the SASB in 2000. Bota Malik’s descendant who lives in Bota Kote village, a few km short of Pahalgam, complains that they have been denied access to the caveshrine since 2000.

“The holy cave was discovered by our ancestor Bota Malik. We had been serving at the cave during the pilgrimage for the past oneand-a-half century but we have been sidelines by the SASB adversely affecting the livelihood of 300 families who would directly or indirectly depend on the share from the offerings,” said a member of Founders and Beneficiaries of Amarnath cave. He claimed that Amarnath had been known as a symbol of communal harmony “as it used to be place where Hindus and Muslims would come together and, in fact, the first puja of the year would be offered by us Muslims.”

But, he complained, Maliks were neglected by the SASB for political reasons’’.

‘‘Though the board officials publicly admit that the holding of the yatra is impossible without the support of the Kashmiri Muslims, its actions only indicate that political motives are responsible for driving us out,’’ he alleged.

The SASB had at an earlier occasion rejected the criticism as unwarranted.