NEW DELHI; Fears that the Kashmir issue might take a more sinister turn were generated here in the light of rumors that the Pakistan intelligence has issued instructions to some militant organizauons to clandestinely remove the hair of Prophet Mohammed from Srinagar’s Hazratbal Mosque and thus provoke mass uprising against the government, according to Indian newspapers. Whether the Indian govt is behind this rumor is not certain.
The state government has tightened security arrangements around the mosque, which is visited for prayers every Friday by thousands of people from all over the Valley. Even if nothing happens to the relic, screening of a large number of people as they arrive for prayers might create serious problems with possibilities of confrontation between the security forces and disguised militants.
Intelligence agencies are disinclined to dismiss lightly reports about the latest design for stirring up trouble in the Valley. Indications about it first came from the interrogation of militants rounded up while they were trying to cross the actual line of control and were later confirmed by other reliable sources. Now that border areas are being combed more thoroughly than ever before, infiltration is not easy. It was feared that Pakistan would resort to other devices for creating trouble.
If the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has really conceived of the plan for somehow spiriting away the most sacred relic in Kashmir, as rumors now suggest, it is trying to draw good lesson from what had happened here in 1964. Then also, the holy relic was stolen, plunging the entire Valley into turmoil from which it could recover only after the relic was restored after proper identification by several priests and Islamic scholars in Kashmir.
Following the theft of the relic in 1964, which is believed to have been brought to Kashmir by a trader several centuries ago, there was an explosion of protests, demonstrations, and rallies all over the Valley. The then state government headed by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was at its wit’s endindealing with the situation. Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, had rushed Lal Bahadur Shastri and a team of senior government officials for defusing the situation.
The holy relic is kept in a well-protected safe the keys of which are with the chief priest of the Hazratbal Mosque. During its exhibition on a few select days annually, the devout from far and near throng the shrinein thousands. The Hazratbal Mosque, a white marble structure, is one of the most sacred shrines in the Valley.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 12, 1991
