| Download on 
Kargil, June 16 (KMS): Residents of Muslim dominated Kargil, a part of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, are up in arms against a Tibetan origin outsider Buddhist monk from Leh who has started a march, ‘Pad Yatra’, to lay a foundation of a monastery in Kargil.
The Co-Chairmen of Kargil Democratic Alliance, an association of social, religious and political organizations, Qamar Ali Akhoon and Asghar Ali Karbalai, have written to the Deputy Commissioner conveying their apprehensions that the march led by a person who is an outsider is politically motivated and it could disturb communal harmony in Ladakh.
The letter states that the KDA held a meeting with representatives of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) regarding the Gompa construction and both parties agreed the issue must be resolved amicably. It went on to add that under such circumstances, a third person having no stake in the matter was trying to disrupt peace in the region.
“What makes things worse is the propaganda run by the Indian media. There was a clear order from the then government in 1969 that land allotted to Buddhists could only be used for the construction of residential or commercial buildings. The order prohibits religious construction on the land,” a leader from Kargil told media men.
He said the ‘Pad-Yatra’ from an outsider is nothing but aimed at creating communal divisions in Ladakh.
“Buddhists do not live within 20 km of the land and that the current building there is a Buddhist guest house and should remain so,” he concluded. KMS-7R
