ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday sought a timeframe for the rebuilding of a historical Hindu temple in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Karak district vandalised in December by an angry mob.
In January, the apex court had ordered the Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB) to start the reconstruction of the samadhi (shrine) built in the 1910s.
During the hearing of a suo motu case into the vandalising of the site, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MP and Pakistan Hindu Council chief Ramesh Kumar informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed that the construction work had not started even after the passage of more than one month.
At this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan directed the EPTB to start the construction immediately.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Ahmed said that the compensation money was not received from those responsible for the torching of the place. At the time of the incident, unverified reports suggested the mob was led by a local member of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
KP Additional Attorney General (AAG) Atif Ali Khan informed the court the provincial government has allocated Rs34.8 million for the reconstruction of the building.
Justice Ahsan said that no one would dare violate the sanctity of any religious site if compensation was retrieved from those responsible for the act.
The top judge observed that all properties managed by the ETPB have been given on lease, whereas some of them were even rented out for an indefinite period of time. To this, AAG Khan said that as many as 14 properties of the board were under illegal occupation.
The chief justice said that ETPB properties could not be handed to private parties. He also questioned the establishment of housing societies on the board’s land.
Justice Ahmed recalled many multi-storey buildings demolished in Karachi on the directives of the apex court also included buildings of the board.
Commission on Minorities’ Rights Chairman Shoaib Suddle who in a report submitted to the apex court last week painted a dismal picture of revered Hindu sites across the country renewed his complaint of the commission not extending cooperating with the one-member commission comprising him.
At this, the chief justice summoned ETPB Chairman Dr Aamer Ahmed in the next hearing.
Meanwhile, Kumar told the court Multan Commissioner Shanul Haq refused to take responsibility for the security of a Hindu temple during the two-day Holi festival beginning March 28 citing security risks.
The court directed the Punjab government to make strict security arrangements for the temple ahead of the festival.
It also directed Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani to look into the situation.
Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned till February 15.
