Kashmir is the known world over as being land of great Saints, Sufis. It is bestowed with religious wealth in the form of abundant shrines and places of worship enjoying reverence and allegiance of people professing different faiths.
The valley of Kashmir with the inception of Islam did undergo drastic changes at all levels and strata of society. Islam in Kashmir wasn’t result of some brutal and bloody conquest but by the efforts and toil of Sufi Saints. The imprints which Islam left on Kashmiris have been rightly observed by the noted historian Prem Nath Bazaz “Politics had dehumanized the Kashmiris; Islam made them men again. Just as the Muslim rule was established in Kashmir without much bloodshed, so was Islam spread throughout the length and breadth of the valley by peaceful preaching and lucid persuasions of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani(RA) and hundreds of the Sayyid Missionaries who came from Hamadan and other parts of Persia.
Muslim Wakf Board, which has the unique distinction of being second largest asset rich body in Jammu and Kashmir after the State government is the custodian of these 47 holy shrines in the Kashmir Valley. WAKF Board gets tremendous income  from the Nazar o Niyaz (Donations) made by the devotees visiting these sacred shrines with unflinching faith.
What is tragic to note is the fact that despite generating tremendous income one fails to witness any impressive work done by the WAKF Board.
Interestingly, same mess is witnessed in the management of Gurdwaras. Sane voices in the community have remained unimpressive over the functioning of the Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (GPC) and urged for audit of its accounts immediately.
On the other hand, Despite huge donations by Sikh devotes to sacred Gurdawaras, one does not witness much welfare oriented activities like building of schools and hospitals constructed by the religious bodies of Kashmiri Sikhs.
In nutshell, the important religious bodies particularly WAKF and GPC need to make long strides to achieve desired excellence as currently the outlook presented vis-à -vis performance by these important institutions is quiet dismal.
