Srinagar, Sep 7: National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the recent controversy at the Hazratbal shrine could have been avoided if the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board had refrained from installing a plaque featuring the Ashoka emblem at the revered shrine dedicated to Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
“There was no need to install the plaque. They put it up and people did not like it,” Abdullah told reporters in Anantnag, where he attended a condolence meeting.
Calling the installation “a mistake that should not have occurred,” the NC chief stressed that Hazratbal and other shrines were built through the contributions of the people, not as favours from anyone.
“When Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah oversaw the construction, he did not put any board on the shrine because it was dedicated to Allah and His Prophet (SAW),” Abdullah said.
On the FIR registered over the vandalisation of the emblem, the veteran leader remarked, “They need to understand that what they did was wrong, and the people will not tolerate such actions. We are a peace-loving community, and they should know that they made a mistake.”
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