KARACHI: The rainwater of the recent monsoon showers had not dried from the streets and despite heavy rains, the air is still hot and humid and motorbike merchants of Karachi’s Akbar market in Ratan Talo area of Saddar town and mechanics outside their shops were lazily repairing the motorcycles. In the street No-19, between the motorbikes, there is a green color gate, with several green and black flags can also been seen on the gate and inside the gate, some Pashtoo speaking masons are constructing a new building. This is a unique building. There is centaury old Mari Mata Temple and Shia Imambargah under the same roof. Before the construction started, there were Tazia of the Shias lying in the courtyard and inside a room there were some statues of Mari Mata, a goddess of Marathi speaking to Hindus of Karachi. Also a name plaque was installed on the walls of the room that read that Seth Motandas had financed the construction of this temple in 1957. However, still on the main gate, it is clearly written “Mai Janat ka Tazia” [Tazia of Main Janat]. According to the caretaker of the temple, the actual area of the temple was much bigger, but most of its parts are now occupied where shops have been constructed now. Mari Mata, also known as Durga Mata by some Hindus, is an important goddess of Hindus. In 1930s when Sindh was part of Bombay Presidency, a large number of Marathi speaking people from Indian state of Maharashtra used to visit Karachi for business purpose and many of them lived here. After partition of subcontinent, when Hindus of Sindh migrated to India and Muslims from India replaced them, a large number of Hindus preferred to stay in Pakistan. Today, there are several families of Marathi Hindus living in Karachi. There are few temple which are run by these Marathi speaking Hindus of Karachi. Recently, Minority Affairs department, government of Sindh has allocated fund for the construction of the temple. Mai Mehmooda, who said to be daughter of Mai Janat said that her mother had used the place several years ago and kept a Tazia in the building. “In the start both communities were visiting the place and worshiping by their own way, but now there is small tensions, but despite that there isn’t any fight between both communities,” said Mai Mehmooda. Vishal Rajput, a member of Shri Maharashtra Punchayat, a community organization of Marathi Hindus of Karachi said that it is historical temple, where large number of local Hindus visit everyday and worship the goddess and also celebrate their festivals. “Recently, we have received some threats from the Muslims, for which we have requested government authorities to provide us protection, otherwise there isn’t any issue,” he told Daily Times.