Hindu Temples are under attack in Pakistan by fundamental Muslims. Hundreds of temples have been destroyed in Pakistan in last five years very silently.

Land grabbers target Hindu temples in Pak

Input from Kshitiz Singhal and Sumon K Chakrabarti, CNN-IBN || Posted on Apr 01, 2010 at 18:49

New Delhi: Again the fundamentalists in Pak tried to demoralize Hindu Minorities by snatching their religious rights upon the nose of the tall talking of Minority Protection given by thre Pakistan Government.  After reports on gurdwara land being sold off to the army at throwaway prices, land grabbers in Pakistan are targeting Hindu temple properties. A Krishna temple was tried to demolish completely and 20 acres surrounding it was encroached illegally by Bashir Khaskheli, leader of a radical organisation, Jeay Sindh. By this time of present Govt. it could not be possible to ensure to protect the minority Temple and churches in Pakistan under the threat perceptions by the majority communities. Hundreds of temples have been destroyed in Pakistan in last five years very silently.

The owners of the land, Padma Puri, who also heads Karachi Panjrapor Welfare Association, was attacked when she resisted the building of boundary walls around the temple and acid was thrown on her body. Padma Puri said, “Some men with masks had acid thrown at me, my body got burnt.”

Padmapuri along with her husband Maharaj Kishan Chand are now fighting a lonely battle and even the Minister of Minority Affairs, Mohan Lal, in Sindh cannot provide them justice.

Maharaj Kishan Chand said, “We are Hindus and injustice is being meted out to us.”

CNN-IBN has documents which show that repeated requests made to the Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board has fallen on deaf ears.

In December 2009, CNN-IBN was the first to report on how Pakistan is selling off acres and acres of land that belongs to the country’s minority Sikh community, worth millions, at a throwaway price to the Pakistani army.

Even in the past, many temple lands were grabbed illegally and several attempts made to take the temple’s property back from the land grabbers have met with no success. Most ministers in Pakistan, including Hindu Ministers have refused to help in reclaiming the such land though all this is in clear violation of Pakistan’s own regulations of not putting up for sale the property of any religious place inside the country.

• After publishing the news in CNN-IBN channel in India, various authorities and forums in Pakistan have started their play to sideline the issue in favour of the persecutors to achieve their goals. But everybody knows that there were 1500 big Hindu-Buddhists-Jain-Sikh-Ravidasa temples and shrines before partition of India in 1947. But now the numbers of Temples-Shrines came down to 300 at best as per the available record so far.
• ( Important Reading : Hindu Temples-What happened to Them by Sita Ram Goel and Others. Volume-I and Volume-II)
• Desecration of Hindu Temple in Karachi: Stop It. NOW!
• There are/were  four important temples in Karachi specifically dedicated to Lord Krishna, Vishnu or Narayana. They are :Laxmi Narain Temple At Native Jetty Bridge, Queens Road Karachi. This temple is constructed on land facing the sea under the Native Jetty Bridge. It was constructed about 200 years back. In this temple, Festival of Raksha Bandhan (NarialPuja), Ganesh Chaturthee, i.e. Birthday of Shri Ganesh Deva and every Chand night is celebrated. It is a sacred place for performing death rituals of Karni (11th day rituals) and offering Shiradh of Pitras and for putting final Garba Murtis in sea water on the day of Nao-Ratree & Ganesh Chaturithi.
• Swami Narayan Temple Opposite Kmc M.A Jinnah Road Karachi.
  It is a big Temple estate, surrounded by residential houses. It is an old temple building, which dates back to more than 150 years. In this temple, celebration of Swami Narain Jayanti, Sri Ram Navmi, Janam Ashtmi, Dasshera, Diwali and mostly all the religious festivals are celebrated by Hindus, within these premises, there is a temple of Guru Nanak where in every Chand Raat and the birthday of Guru Nanak, Wasakhee, days are also celebrated by Hindus.
• Varun God (Radha Krishna – Sita Ram) Temple At Manora Cantt
  The temple is situated on seashore of Manora cantt. This temple is about 160 years old and designed perfectly as per Hindu Architecture. The temple is carved from a blackish marble. Apart of Varun Devta temple there is small temple of Shiv Shanker & statues of Hanuman & Sri Ganesh Mahraj are still in good condition. Sindhi Hindu Businessmen built this temple & renovated from time to time. After partition the temple was abandoned & illegally occupied by land grabbers.
• Krishna Mandir- Frere town Clifton Karachi, which is believed to be destroyed completely. Any one could send any picture of this Temple? It is impossible now. But the media tried to misled the issue otherwise including PHP. Those who want to clarify the land grabbing of  Swami Narayan Temple Opposite Kmc M.A Jinnah Road Karachi, please say something about the non-existence of Krishna Mandir- Frere town Clifton Karachi.

Posted by : Upananda Brahmachari.