NGT clarifies stand, no ban on chanting hymns at Amarnath
JAMMU: Even as National Green Tribunal (NGT) “clarified” on Thursday that it had not imposed any ban on chanting hymns and prayers inside the Amarnath cave shrine, Kashmiri Pandits and Hindu groups lashed out at it for the controversial order.
The NGT said the only restriction was that devotees or individuals should maintain silence while standing in front of the ‘Amarnath Ji Maha Shivling’, a natural formation in the cave.
The All Parties’ Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC), a frontal organisation of internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits, warned NGT of interfering in religious affairs of Hindus. It termed the order a Talibani diktat. APMCC chairman Vinod Pandit said that it has become a norm for such institutions to interfere in the religious affairs of Hindus and warned that provoking Hindus every now and then would be disastrous for the communal harmony in the country.
He said that institutions like the NGT should refrain from playing with the sentiments of Hindus and restrict themselves to the job they are assigned to.
King C Bharati, senior journalist and national spokesperson of APMCC, while condemning the order, challenged the NGT to stop them from chanting religious mantras as it amounted to killing the basic spirit behind the most pious pilgrimages of Hindus and direct interference into their religious beliefs.
He said the APMCC would form a squad of 100 volunteers who would proceed to the shrine for pilgrimage next year and chant mantras and ring bells, daring the NGT to arrest them.
APMCC general secretary Arun Kandroo said that despite the fact that Amarnath Shrine Board had tried to convince NGT about the sanctity of the chanting of mantras, the tribunal deliberately issued the order to provoke Hindus.