Out, out, devout

‘‘We have been told not to report at the shrine. This is not in line with what the Maharajas of Kashmir had ordered,’’ says Gul Mohammad Malik, chieftain of the clan. Gul has moved the court, challenging the Board’s ‘‘decision to dissociate them from the affairs of the shrine and to deny them their share of the chararva (offerings)’’.

‘‘It is painful. The move to dislodge us from an age-old culture,’’ says Gul. ‘‘Never in my life had I imagined we will be discriminated against for being Muslims,” he adds.

The SASB, headed by Governor Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha, recently appointed a one-man tribunal to award compensation to the three parties involved in the dispute — the Maliks, the Hindus of Ganeshpora and Mattan villages, and mahant Deepangiri, the shrine’s head priest. Before the Board was formed, the offerings at the shrine used to be distributed equally among the Maliks, the Pandits and the mahant.

‘‘The tribunal recommended that two-thirds of the chararva money — pegged at Rs 3 crore — be given to the mahant and one-third to the Maliks and the Pandits,’’ says Principal Secretary to the Governor, Arun Kumar. But the Maliks, he admits, have rejected the offer.

‘‘We don’t want the money. It is an emotional cause. We will fight the case in court. We don’t agree to the tribunal’s recommendations,’’ says Ghulam Qadir Malik. ‘‘We have tremendous reverence and respect for the place. Our ancestors were attached to the shrine. We are devout Muslims but can recite hymns and shlokas and the Ved Puranas better than many Hindus. We even know how to perform havans,’’ he adds.

It is said that Buta Malik, the Maliks’ forefather, discovered the Amarnath cave while looking for a sadhu.