Most of the revered sites of the minority Hindu group in Pakistan are in a poor situation and the authority answerable for their maintenance has failed to take care of them, leaving the traditional worship locations in a state of decay, a latest report has mentioned.
IMAGE: The Katas Raj temple in Chakwal.
The report, ready by a one-man fee, was submitted to the Supreme Court on February 5 and presents a dismal image of the group’s most revered sites in the nation, the Dawn reported.
The report additionally highlights that the Evacuee Trust Property Board, answerable for their maintenance, has failed to take care of most of the traditional and holy sites of the minority group.
Dr Shoaib Suddle’s one-man fee has been established by the Supreme Court however it has three supporting members, Dr Ramesh Vankwani, Saqib Jillani and the legal professional common for Pakistan, who has nominated the deputy legal professional common to take part in fact-finding actions of the fee, the newspaper report mentioned.
The fee members visited the Katas Raj Mandir in Chakwal on January 6 and Prahlad Mandir in Multan on January 7.
The findings in the report current a common image of decay and obliteration of two of the 4 most revered evacuee sites in Pakistan.
The report mentioned that collaborative efforts ought to be taken to renovate Terri Mandir (Karak), Katas Raj Temples (Chakwal), Prahlad Mandir (Multan) and Hinglaj Mandir (Lasbela).
It additionally instructed an modification to the ETPB Act to ascertain a working group for rehabilitation of the holy sites belonging to Hindus and Sikhs.
The report has requested the Supreme Court to direct the ETPB to get entangled in the reconstruction of the desecrated Terri mandir/samaadhi and cooperate with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities for environment friendly implementation of the directives given by the apex courtroom sometimes.
In December, a temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district was torched by members of radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam occasion (Fazal ur Rehman group). The assault on the temple drew sturdy condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu group leaders, prompting the Supreme Court to order its reconstruction.
The Supreme Court had in its order of January 5 directed the ETPB ‘to submit an in depth report of all temples, Gurdawaras and different spiritual sites throughout Pakistan which come underneath the purview of ETPB’.
According to the ETPB letter, out of 365 temples, solely 13 had been being managed by them, leaving accountability of 65 with the Hindu group, and virtually abandoning the remainder of 287 to the land mafias, the report mentioned.
“It is certainly unusual that even in this age of expertise, the ETPB has but to get the evacuee properties geo-tagged,” it mentioned.
The fee mentioned that the ETPB, with its employees unfold throughout the nation and boasting enormous paraphernalia, was managing 31 locations of worship out of a complete of 470.
The fee additionally raised objections over the ETPB’s response that non-functional temples/gurdwaras existed resulting from lack of inhabitants of Hindus/Sikhs.
“However, there are a number of examples of lively mandirs, the place no Hindu inhabitants resides, reminiscent of Hinglaj Mata Mandir in Balochistan and Shri Param Hans Ji Mahaaraj mandir/samaadhi at Terri in Karak district of KPK,” the report mentioned.
The fee additionally highlighted that the ETPB is but to Reimburse Rs 38 million for the renovation of Terri temple.
Alleging that the ETPB was solely in occupying useful properties of migrated minorities, the fee mentioned that lots of of charitable, worship and different joint properties of these communities have been taken over by it, the newspaper reported.
Hindus type the largest minority group in Pakistan.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus stay in Pakistan. However, based on the group, over 90 lakh Hindus live in the nation.
The majority of Pakistan’s Hindu inhabitants is settled in Sindh province the place they share tradition, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They typically complain of harassment by the extremists.
