25 NOV 2021
As part of a community building initiative and to pay respect to Baba Darwesh, the Indian Army today inaugurated the newly renovated Baba Darwesh Pir Baba shrine at Fakirpora, Gurez. The grand event was attended by more than 100 locals alongwith SDM, SDPO, BDC, Ex MLA Fakir Khan and Ex MLA Nazir Gurezi. The inauguration was done by Ex Hav Ghulam Qadir, a 1971 War veteran along with Maulvi Mushtaq of Dawar.
Mir Sayeed Ali Hamdani during his visit to Kashmir in the 13th century was accompanied by 700 holy saints, know as “Sadaats”. The main aim of these holy saints were to enlighten the locals of the valley through their preaching and deeds and spread the message of love and compassion. Out of the 700, seven saints stayed back in the pristine Gurez valley. Most popular and revered among them were Baba Abdur Razak and Baba Darwesh. The shrine of Baba Darwesh is located at Fakirpora which was initially just a grave as the people of the village were too poor to afford a proper shrine for him. Until a divine figure appeared in the dreams of a Hindu Naib Tehsildar, Radha Krishna who was posted in Gurez in the 1900’s, and asked him to construct a shrine with an overhead shelter.
Over the years people from all sects of the society including Army personnel posted in Gurez have honoured and held this place in very high regard and have been offering their prayers and prashad here on every thursday. Every Army unit posted here has been constantly improving the shrine. This year a major revamp was given to the shrine by the Snow Leopard Brigade of the Indian Army to pay obeisance to Baba Darwesh and seek his blessings for peace, prosperity and development of Gurez. The shrine will also function as a major point of interest for the hordes of tourists now flocking Gurez and would boost religious tourism in Gurez.
