Pakistan: The Mari Mata Temple in Karachi’s Soldier Bazar was pulled down by bulldozers on Friday night. The 150 year old temple was demolished on the grounds of being a old and dangerous structure in the city. The incident has left the local Hindu community in utter disarray. The temple was brought down under heavy supervision by a contingent of police when there was no electricity in the area. The bulldozers proceeded to demolish the temple leaving only the outward wall and main entrance gate in place.
“We were not informed this was going to happen”
Ram Nath Mishra Maharaj, caretaker of old temple in the region said “They (authorities) did it very early in the morning and we were not informed this was going to happen.” Mishra also stated that how the whole structure was demolished by the bulldozers and diggers under supervision of police. Mishra further added that how temple had an area of 400 to 500 square yards and how land grabbers and developers had been targeting the site for years on end.
The Madrasi Hindu community of Karachi was responsible for taking care of the temple site. Recently they had reached the conclusion that the structure was very old and dangerous. Under reluctance the temple management decided to move the deities of temple to a small room on a temporary basis. The management had planned to carry out maintenance and renovation work in the structure.
Ramesh, a local Hindu community leader stated that management was under pressure to vacate the land as the site had been sold to a land developer on forged documents. The land developer plans to construct a commercial building in place of the temple.
Appeal to authorities
The local Hindu community has made appeals to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Pakistan-Hindu Council, and the Inspector General of the Sindh police to look after the matter under their supervision.
A member of Madrasi community has meanwhile claimed that they were forced to leave the temple by tow individuals named Imran Hashmi and Nagin Bai. Reports have also surfaced that 2 people were going to sell the site for 7 crore Pakistani rupees to land developers.
Sindh is home to Pakistan’s largest denomination of Hindus. The province is also home to many prominent temples of Pakistan. The Hindu community of Sindh is the most significant sect of minority religions in Pakistan.
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