Srinagar:
The Sheetleshwar temple was inaugurated in Srinagar by the Kashmiri pandits after twenty years, coinciding with the community's twenty years of exile.
The man who made this happen is Sanjay Tikoo of the Kashmiri Pandits Sangarsh Samiti, but it is a local Muslim, 75-year-old, Ali Mohammad who protected one of the oldest temples in Kashmir all these years.
"Thanks to Almighty God and people from the area wherever we have opened the temples.. so far 32 temples are functional in the Valley and out of 485 (temples) our aim is to reopen 60 more temple this year..'', says, Sanjay Tikoo
The re-opening of this temple is a new beginning and Sanjay's aim is to make this 300 year old Sheetleshwar Bairev temple, a place of reconciliation between the two communities and Ali Mohammad who has been the caretaker of this temple for 20 years represents hope.
Ali Mohammad, says, "I protect this temple because its our own temple. It doesn't belong to any pariah. It is our own. Earlier there were more Pundits in this locality''
Exactly 20 years ago Kashmiri Pundits started their mass exodus following killings of several community members by the militants.
Ironically, January 21, 1990 also witnessed the first massacre of the majority community, when security forces opened fire on a procession at Gawkadal starting a vicious cycle of violence in the state.