National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the recent controversy at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar could have been avoided if the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board had not installed a plaque bearing the Ashoka emblem at the revered site 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 move a “mistake that should not have occurred,” the former chief minister emphasised that Hazratbal and other shrines were constructed through public contributions, not as favours from any authority. “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),” he noted.
Reacting to the FIR registered over the vandalisation of the emblem, Abdullah said, “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.”
