Hindus Temples in Pakistan – Terrible condition #Shame

A Hindu temple that was badly damaged was recorded on Phone video:

Rubble of a Hindu temple demolished in Karachi.

Hindu temple vandalised in Karachi – https://www.thehindu.com Updated: June 10, 2022 12:39 IST
Pakistan: Hindu temple damaged in attack returned after repairs – 10 Aug 2021 – https://www.aljazeera.com
Mob attacks and sets fire to Hindu temple in Pakistan https://www.theguardian.com

A member of the Hindu community walks inside the temple that was attacked on Saturday night, in Larkana, March 16, 2014.

Of the 300 Hindu temples that Pakistan inherited in 1947 at the time of partition, hardly three dozen have managed to survive, many of whom are in ruins and set to disappear with the passage of time if due attention is not paid to their maintenance.

Following the demolition of the historic Babri Mosque in India in 1992 by Hindu extremists, over 200 Hindu temples were destroyed across Pakistan by angry Muslims. Many of the Hindus living in Sindh andNorth West Frontier Province lost their homes as the largest outward migration of the Hindu community since Partition took place during these years. But despite all that, Hindus still exist in Pakistan, numbering more than 2 million. The Hindu population is largest in the Sindh province followed by the North West Frontier Province of the country, but there are Hindu communities dotted all over Pakistan who continue to suffer constant threats against their security, property and lives by extremist Muslims.

Together with the apathy of the public, the Hindus of Pakistan remain a forgotten and voiceless people who have to live a low profile existence and have to put up with many insults to their honour and dignity, without any safeguards. The Pakistani authorities rarely intervene to help their Hindu nationals, despite the fact that there are frequent reports of the kidnapping of Hindu women and children and looting of Hindu property, besides other forms of discrimination and persecution.

As things stand, most Hindu temples in Pakistan are non-existent while idols in many ancient temples of historical importance are missing.The famous Temples at Katas, near Kalar Kahar, are in a dilapidated condition and require renovation.

A survey carried out by All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement Pakistan’s revealed that out of 428 Hindu temples in Pakistan only around 20 survive today and they remain neglected by the Evacuee Trust Property Board which controls those while the rest had been converted for other uses.^[1] Nearly 1000 active and former Hindu temples were attacked in retaliation following the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India by Hindu extremists there in 1992.^[2]

Idols in some temples in Pakistan have gone missing and the ponds outside those temples that are considered necessary for a holy dip are drying up due to neglect which has irked the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

“The remaining places of worship have been leased for commercial and residential purposes by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), said PHRM Chairman Haroon Sarab Diyal. The 135,000 acres of land owned by around four million Hindus is now under ETPB’s control.

Representatives of the Hindu community also wrote to all the chief ministers of the four provinces but have not received a response yet, Diyal added. He urged the government to hand over these religious places to the Hindu community to mitigate their resentment and fear of being forced to leave their homeland.

Sharing documents with The Express Tribune, he revealed that Kali Bari Hindu Temple has been rented out to a Muslim party in Dera Ismail Khan. This historic temple is being used as Taj Mehal Hotel, he added.

The documents also allege that Frontier Constabulary officials, with the help of the ETPB, occupied the Shamshan Ghat, also in Dera Ismail Khan. The Hindu community is unable to cremate their dead because of the unavailability of Shamshan Ghat and is forced to bury them in a graveyard shared my members of other faiths.

A Hindu temple in district Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, is now a well-known sweets shop. Meanwhile, the Holy Shiv Temple in Kohat has been converted into a government primary school.

Government Girls High School, Peshawar Cantt, now stands where a historical Hindu temple used to be; other historic temples such as the Asamai temple has been closed down in the K-P capital.

Meanwhile, Guru Duwara Gali, a Sikh religious place, has been converted into a garments shop in Abbottabad.

In the federal capital, Islamabad, the Raam Kunde Complex of Temples at SaidPur Model village is now a ‘picnic site’. A second temple at Rawal Dam, Islamabad, has been shut down and the Hindu community believes that it is going to dilapidate day by day without being handed over to them.

In Punjab, a Hindu temple was demolished and reconstructed as a community centre in Rawalpindi, while in Chakwal, ten famous temples collectively known as Bhuwan are being used by the local Muslim community for commercial purposes, despite being handed over to the Hindus.