Tando Allahyar is
a town in Sindh, Pakistan. It is the capital ofTando Allahyar District. ~ and
here is a photo of the temple there known as ‘Ramapir’ temple – these are
becoming a rarity or the ones that could be read only in newspapers due to
intolerance and hatred of the land….
It is common history that after
Pakistan gained independence from
Britain on 14 August 1947, approximately 6 million of the country's minority
Hindus and Sikhs had to migrate to India. Similarly, nearly an equal number of
Muslims left India to live in Pakistan. Today, only 26 out of Pakistan's 428
Hindu temples exist. The 1998 Census of Pakistan recorded less than 2.5 million
Hindus. The overwhelming majority of Hindus in Pakistan are concentrated in the
Sindh province. In 1951, Hindus constituted 22% of the Pakistani
population; now the share of Hindus is
down to 1.7% in Pakistan, and 9.2% in Bangladesh.
The Sindh kingdom
and its rulers play an important role in the great epic – Mahabharat. Legend has it that
the city of Lahore was first founded by
Lava, while Kasur was founded by his twin Kusha, both of whome were the sons of
Rama. The Gandhara kingdom of the
northwest, and the legendary Gandhara peoples are also a major part of Hindu
literature such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Most Pakistani city names
(such as Peshawar, Multan) can be traced back to Sanskrit roots.
In Dec last, a 100-year-old
temple was demolished in Pakistan, angry
Hindus asked Govt to arrange tickets to India.
PTI Karachi reported on 3.12.12 that a century-old temple in Karachi was
hurriedly demolished by a builder despite a Pakistani court hearing a petition
seeking a stay on such a move, triggering protests by the minority Hindu
community on Sunday. Besides razing the pre-Partition Shri Rama Pir Mandir in
Karachi's Soldier Bazar, the builder demolished several houses near it. Nearly
40 people, a majority of them Hindus, became homeless as a result, The Express
Tribune reported. Following the demolition, the Pakistan Hindu
Council organised a protest outside the Karachi Press Club
Now today’s Daily Mail carries a news titled :
Pakistan fails to save a Hindu temple... So is anyone really
surprised?
By Reema Abbasi 20 December 2013
How is an Islamic
place of worship more significant than that of another faith? This question has
come to haunt Pakistan now more than ever before. This week, the Hindu community staged a
massive protest at the Karachi Press Club to save the remaining portion of a
100-year-old Mari Mata Temple in the old quarters of Soldier Bazar in Karachi. This time, a temple was easy prey for
commercial gain as opposed to Islamist brutality. Equality: The priority of Islam in Pakistan
has resulted in negligence towards Hinduism in the country
The historic
structure was attacked by land-grabbers at the behest of a builder who wants
the land for a shopping mall. So far, a portion of the temple has been razed
and a dozen Hindu clans that lived in its surrounding area have been forced to
evacuate, to subsist under the open sky.
This is not the
first Hindu temple to be demolished in the metropolis; another Mari Mata Mandir
was brought down last year in the name of commercialism. The Pakistan Hindu
Sabha is duly infuriated with the provincial government, the Ministry of
Minority Affairs and above all, Sindh's ruling party, the supposedly secular
Pakistan Peoples Party. Each time push
comes to shove, all their lofty claims of safeguarding tolerance and equality
evaporate. Hence, the association is
left with little choice other than organising mass protests and chalking out a
strategy whereby their temple is restored, as are the homes in its area.
It is more than
pertinent to mention that the Mata Mari Temple and its plot comes under the
Evacuee Trust Protection Board and has existed along with the residents prior
to Partition. For this reason, the Hindu
families residing there for over 70 years should have ownership rights to their
properties against a nominal fee. There is little evidence to negate the idea
that such religious insensitivity has only raised its hideous head after
hardliners and madressas mushroomed across the landscape. It seems to have
reached a crescendo following cries from popular leaders asking for a peace
process with criminals rather than holding them accountable for bloodshed.
Currently,
activists and analysts see it as another pretext to generate religious
apartheid. Pakistan's establishment has
to recognize the crying need of the hour - to make an example of this criminal
incident by hauling up perpetrators, initiating restoration and
institutuionalising the most eminent of values - a country that celebrates God
must recognize all that is human.
The writer is a columnist based in Karachi
Below Hindu temples in Pakistan being attacked and demolished............
