கராச்சியில் சிவன் கோவில் முஸ்லீம் இமாமால் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு

லையாரியில் உள்ள சிவன் கோவிலை ஒரு இஸ்லாமிய பிர் ஆக்கிரமித்து அதற்குள் இந்துக்களை விடுவதில்லை என்று நியூஸ் பத்திரிக்கை செய்தி அளித்துள்ளது.

அதிகாரத்திலுள்ளவர்கள் இந்து சொத்துதானே என்று நில ஆக்கிரமிப்பு செய்து அதற்கு உறுதுணையாக இஸ்லாமிய பிர் ஒருவரும் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு செய்து கோவிலை அபகரித்துள்ளார்கள்.

பாகிஸ்தானிலிருந்து வெளிவரும் நியூஸ் பத்திரிக்கை செய்தி.

செய்தி அளித்த அனானிக்கு நன்றி

Hindus disallowed from entering temple

KARACHI: While Hindus all over the world celebrated Hanuman Jayanti Day (the birth anniversary of Hanuman) yesterday, residents of Pawal Das compound in Lyari were deprived access to the historical Shiv Mandir located on its premises, reports the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The ground has been taken over by a self-styled Pir Syed Hussain Mian Bukhari in contravention of the law.

HRCP demanded that the Sindh government and the City Nazim take immediate action against the encroachment to ensure the rights of the Hindus in the larger interest of communal harmony.

According to the statement issued on Monday, Pawal Das compound was constructed in 1901 with more than100 houses of the Hindu community located here as well as an old temple called Shiv Mandir. The compound was exclusively earmarked for Hindus by the Government of Sindh province under the Evacuee Property Act 1957.

However, with the help of local authorities, land grabbers have been forcibly evicting residents from that compound as a result of which only 35 families are left there. Residents of the area have brought to the attention of HRCP the fact that butchers continue to slaughter animals in the area which is not only illegal, but provokes the sensitivities of Hindus.


இப்படிப்பட்ட இமாம்கள் நல்வழி சேர்ந்து நலம் காக்க இறையருள் புரியட்டும்.

Desecration of Hindu Temple in Karachi: Stop It. NOW!
Published by Adil Najam October 11th, 2006 in Religion, Law and Justice, Minorities and >> Adil Najam. 2517 Hits
Adil Najam

Religious intolerance must never be tolerated. To be silent in the face of intolerance is intolerance itself. It is a blot not only on those who commit the acts of intolerance, it is a scar on the face of societies that allow it.

One of the very first posts we had done here on ATP was about the alleged demolition of a Hindu temple in Rangmahal Lahore (here). We followed it up with a second post demonstrating that by design and by default key forces in the media and amongst politicians tend to distort issues for their own myopic gains, even at the cost of the larger issues at stake (here). A third post on this issue from ATP followed up the story further and tried, as best as we could, to separate the facts from the rhetoric (here).

Vigilance must, however, be ongoing.

Now one hears from a hard-hitting editorial in The News of a more blatant act of desecration of another Hindu Temple - this one in the Baghdadi area of Lyari Town, Karachi. Once again, it is greedy land grabbers playing on the religious insensitity of society to gain a little personal benefit without paying any heed to the massive costs and deep wounds they inflict upon an already maligned social fabric through their nefarious actions.

The News editorial (11 October, 2006) gets it exactly right; so let me quote from it in full:

Stop the desecration
In an ultimate insult to any place of worship, a Hindu temple in Karachi has reportedly been encroached upon by local butchers and parts of its compound have been converted into a slaughterhouse. This is most insensitive to the religious feelings of Hindus since cows are considered sacred by them. The actual culprits behind the steady encroachment in the compound where the temple is situated are not the butchers — who are plying their trade there with impunity — but the land grabbers allegedly operating with the collaboration of the local police. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has rightly demanded that the Sindh government and the city nazim take immediate action to stop this encroachment, not least because it offends the religious sensibilities of a minority community.

According to an application sent by the HRCP to the provincial government, the land grabbers have forced the Hindu residents of the century-old Pawaldass compound in the backward Baghdadi area of Lyari Town of old Karachi to sell their properties at cheap rates. The land grabbers’ tactics range from monetary inducements to the poor Hindu families to violence carried out with the active involvement of the local police. There are even reports of a Muslim praying area having been forcibly established inside the compound. The action of the land-grabbers is doubly criminal. They are dispossessing the residents, taking over their temple in the process. In addition, they are in direct violation of the West Pakistan Evacuee Properties Act of 1957. Both call for the immediate action the HRCP has demanded. The action should not stop at prevention of further encroachment by the land grabbers, but should extend to the return of the residents’ occupied properties. At the same time, of course, the religious rights of the Hindu residents must be completely restored. It is about time that we began to respect the religious feelings and sensibilities of those of other faiths, especially since we tend to be very sensitive ourselves if our own sensibilities are slighted. The government is eager to project itself as progressive and for that alone it should ensure that the shenanigans of the land-grabbers and their patrons in the local police are stopped immediately. It goes without saying that if a mosque were encroached the government would act immediately — it needs to show the same promptness with respect to safeguarding the rights of the minorities as well.

It is good that the media (The News) and civil society (HRCP) are vigilant and demanding action. Their demands are exactly right and we must all join with them in this cause. But more than that this is again a moment when the government must act, and act immediately, to stop this gross viloation, to make up for what has happened, and to take real measures that can insure that this will not happen again.