Around 50,000 Temples Closed Over The Years In Kashmir, Survey Ordered: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy also said that the government has set up a committee to survey number of closed schools in Kashmir valley and will work towards reopening them.

Union Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy / Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said that around 50,000 temples will be reopened in Jammu and Kashmir which were closed down over the years. He said that a survey has been ordered for the temples which were shut down or vandalised in the valley. “Around 50,000 temples were closed over the years, of which some were destroyed, and idols were defaced. We have ordered survey of such temples,” he said. He also said that the government has set up a committee to survey number of closed schools in Kashmir valley and will reopen them. A day before he had said that in the last 70 years, when Article 370 was in force, it only gave rise to “terrorism, separatism and pro-Pakistan” elements. “Thousands of temples were demolished while lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus driven out of Jammu and Kashmir,” he had said. He also slammed Pakistan and said that the country would be wiped out of the world map if at all it engages in a war with India.  He also asserted that India would look into PoK (Pak-occupied-Kashmir) when the time comes. "There is none to be cowed down by the hollow noises of Imran Khan or the Pakistan Army. The Prime Minister of India is not a man to be cowed down, he said while addressing a ''Jan Jagaran'' meeting in Andhra Pradesh on the theme ''One Nation, One Constitution.” This is a government that protects the sovereignty and integrity of the country. It's a patriotic government," he had said.