Supporting the Bharat bandh call by VHP and other nationalist organisations on July 3 the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat said the J&K government violated the human rights in the case of Amarnath Shrine Board issue. In a press statement issued in New Delhi on July 2, Sikh Sangat national president Sardar Gurcharan Gill said the J&K state is an integral part of India. The Indian Constitution gives freedom of basic rights of religious activities. In that way, J&K state is bound by this constitutional duty. If any political party does not have faith in the Constitution of India or favours the violation of basic rights given by the Constitution, that party does not have any right to work in India. The recognition of this political party should be cancelled, he said. He further said: ?In Sikh history, we have an emotional attachment with the Amarnath Shrine. When due to the order of Aurangzeb, the Governor Iftikhar Khan was forcefully converting the Kashmiri Pandits to Islam, the Pandits gathered around this pious cave of Amarnath for prayer and discussion. From here they went to Shri Anandpur Sahib to meet Guru Teg Bahadur. After this event Guru Teg Bahadur sacrificed his life to save Kashmiri Pandits from conversion,? the statement added.
(FOC)
