From PoK to Ayodhya via Britain: Muslim man sends water from Sharda Peeth Kund for consecration

Srinagar:  A Muslim man collected holy water from the Sharda Peeth Kund in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and sent it to India via Britain, through a chain of carriers, to be used in the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22. Save Sharda Committee Kashmir (SSCK) founder Ravinder Pandita said the holy water had to take the circuitous route due to the suspension of postal services between India and Pakistan since the Balakote airstrikes after the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack.

"The holy water of the Sharda Kund at the Sharda Peeth PoK was collected by Tanveer Ahmed and his team. Our civil society member across the LoC (Line of Control) carried it to Islamabad, where it was sent to his daughter Maghribi in the UK.

"Maghribi, in turn, handed it over to Sonal Sher, a Kashmiri Pandit activist who came to Ahmedabad in India in August 2023. From there, it reached me in Delhi," Pandita said.

He said the holy water had to travel to Europe and back to the subcontinent "all because postal services between India and Pakistan are temporarily suspended... after the Balakote operations." The Sharda Sarvagnya Peeth has been inaccessible since 1948 and the SSCK has formed a civil society across the LoC in PoK.

"They sent us soil, shilas and now water from the kund. It is a matter of pride that the same is being used in Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha on January 22, 2024. This is the second major event after the Sharda temple pran pratishtha on June 5 last year by the Shankaracharya of Sringeri," he added.

Pandita said SSCK member Manjunath Sharma handed over the holy water to Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders who presented it to senior functionary Koteshwar Rao in Ayodhya on Saturday.

He said SSCK members will light diyas on January 22 at the Sharda Temple near the LoC at Teetwal in the Kupwara district to celebrate the consecration ceremony.