Daily Times

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the work on construction of Hindu temple in Islamabad was halted due to lack of building plan for this purpose. The court, however, reserved the judgment.

Justice Amir Farooq of IHC took up the petition filed against construction of a Hindu temple in the federal capital’s sector H-9/2 sector on a four-kanal plot of land. The foundation stone of the temple was laid in recent but its land of was allotted during the previous regime of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).

The CDA officials told the court during the course of hearing that the plot was allotted after consultations from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Special Branch and the Islamabad administration.

A couple of days back, the CDA stopped the temple management from building a boundary wall at the site.

In response, the deputy attorney general said that the petitioners are asking for Rs100 million but the government has not provided any funding as of yet.

“Thus, a good message is not being sent to the world. The constitution also allows non-Muslims to practice their religion,” he added.

Justice Amir Farooq remarked that the matter has been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) by the government.

After hearing the arguments of all the parties, the court later reserved its verdict for an indefinite period.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the release of funds for the construction of the first Hindu temple in the capital. In a meeting with PTI MNAs Jay Parkash, Shanila Ruth, Laal Chand, Ramesh Kumar and Jamshed Thomas, the premier issued directives for accelerating the legislation process to protect minorities’ rights. According to an official statement, the meeting was also attended by Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri and PTI’s Chief Whip in the National Assembly and Malik Amir Dogar.

The Parliamentarians apprised the Prime Minister of the problems concerning their respective constituencies, particularly minorities. In a statement, PM Imran had said “We had to take the country forward through unity and interfaith harmony.”

Meanwhile, when Daily Times approached some reliable sources in the CDA, they disclosed that before starting construction work, the temple management was required to get the site formally demarcated by the civic agency.

Besides this, approval of the building plan is also another mandatory before construction work begins.

An official privy to the all development related to allotment of the temple land and its usage said while wishing anonymity that we allotted the plot for the establishment of the temple some years ago. But adherence to the CDA bylaws is mandatory for the allottees.

He added that whenever the management of the temple will apply it will be given approval on priority basis.

The official further maintained that in 2016, the CDA board headed by Mayor Anser Aziz, allotted four kanals to the Hindu community for the temple. The CDA board made the allotment on the recommendation of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan.