Islamabad: The miserable status of Hindus in Pakistan is not hidden from anyone and now the commission created by the Pakistan Supreme Court has once again revealed it in its report. Most of the revered sites of the minority Hindu community in Pakistan are in a poor condition and the authority responsible for their upkeep has failed to maintain them, leaving the ancient worship places in a state of decay, a recent report has said.
According to Pakistan’s Dawn News, the Supreme Court constituted a one-man commission under the leadership of Dr. Shoaib Sadal to report on the status of Hindu temples. The Commission has given its seventh report to the Supreme Court on 5 February. The report also highlights that the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), responsible for their upkeep, has failed to maintain most of the ancient and holy sites of the hindus.
The commission members visited the Katas Raj Mandir in Chakwal on January 6 and Prahlad Mandir in Multan on January 7. The findings in the report present a picture of decay and obliteration of two of the four most revered evacuee temples in Pakistan.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan constituted a one-man commission. However, this commission also has 3 supporting members.
According to the ETPB letter, out of 365 temples, only 13 were being managed by them, leaving the responsibility of 65 with the Hindu community, and practically abandoning the rest of 287 to the land mafias, the report said.
Alleging that the ETPB was only interested in occupying valuable properties of migrated minorities, the commission said that hundreds of charitable, worship and other joint properties of these communities have been taken over by it, the newspaper reported.
In December, a temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district was torched by members of radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group).
The attack on the temple drew strong condemnation at international level, prompting the Supreme Court to order its reconstruction.