Mehbooba visits shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan after the fire incident
Srinagar:
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti rushed to Srinagar from winter capital of Jammu on Wednesday and cancelled all her engagements to assess the damage caused by fire incident to the revered shrine of Khankhani Moulla in downtown Srinagar. It became a kind of political struggle between ruling PDP and opposition National Conference as in the wee hours, Ali Muhammad Sagar General Secretary National Conference rushed to the shrine to assess the damage. Mehbooba was accompanied by Altaf Bukhari and MLC from Khanayar Khurshid Alam who had come with some activists to the shrine to show his strength. The Sufi Saint shrine has suffered some damage and was saved by the local youth during the dead of night. It was because of the timely action by the youth of the area that they saved the shrine from getting gutted in the fire incident and even the Chief Minister expressed her deep appreciation to their efforts and their bravery as they almost fought with flames to save the shrine.
Hundreds of devotees had assembled at the shrine after the fire incident when Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reached the spot. She asked her officials to update her about the measures to be taken immediately to save such treasures of past which have great heritage value. She was accompanied by some Ministers and lawmakers along with Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmad Khan and his brother Muneer Ahmad Khan who is IGP Kashmir range. As Mehbooba Mufti was leaving the shrine, there was intense sloganeering inside the shrine by hundreds of women and children in favour of freedom and they were also raising pro-Islamic slogans.
The locals of the area have demanded CCTVs and fire tenders near the shrine so that in future such mishap is avoided. They have also demanded scientific preservation of the wood work done in the shrine in the past which has shades of Central Asian Architecture.
The shrine of Khankhani Moulla is connected with name of Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (RA) also known as Shahi Hamdan in Kashmir. Though the saint is not buried her, but it has been the place were from he has preached Islam when he arrived here in 1384. He has also regarded as godfather for introducing different crafts in Kashmir especially for introducing Persian handicraft in Kashmir Valley besides shawl and carpet weaving. At that point of time he has changed the socio-economic conditions of people of Kashmir Valley and they soon became rich and also became master craftsmen.
In the compound of shrine of Shahi Hamdan is buried Hazrat Syed Wali of Turkistan, whose shrine is visited daily by hundreds of devotees and there are many other things worth displaying within the shrine for the devotees at the time of Urs.
Earlier, Khankhani Geelania at Khanayar in downtown Srinagar was completely gutted in a fire incident as that shrine houses the holy relic of Hazrat Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA). The State Government immediately started the reconstruction work on that shrine and is now complete. In Srinagar city there are dozens of shrines of Sufi Saints and the people of Kashmir have deep love and respect for them.
Chief Minsiter Mehbooba Mufti according to the official spokesman is likely to hold a meeting of how to save the shrine in the future and also how to do the repair work with the help of experts as lot of wood work has been damaged in the shrine by the water of fire tenders.
