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Pakistanis Divided Over Plans to Build Mandir in Islamabad

The Imran Khan government initially supported the project, but appears to have caved in to pressure from hardliners.

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“Mandir nahi banaenge” vs “Mandir tau banega.”

Battle lines have been drawn in Pakistan over the building of the first Hindu temple in Islamabad since 1947, causing the Imran Khan government to waver on a promise it had previously made to the Hindu community, and requiring the courts to step in as well.

Hardliners, including Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political ally the Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid, have adopted the first slogan, and demand that the project be scrapped as it goes against the spirit of Islam, with some going so far as to demolish the border wall at the site that was being constructed.

Moderates, using the second slogan, argue that minorities in Pakistan are supposed to have the right to religious freedom, and that the temple should be built.

Here’s what the controversy is all about, and the current status of the mandir.

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PLANS TO BUILD KRISHNA MANDIR IN ISLAMABAD

In 2017, the former government of Pakistan approved the construction of a temple in Islamabad, the first since Pakistan gained independence in 1947. Around 3,000 Hindus live in Islamabad, but there is no proper temple for them to worship at in the city, forcing them to travel long distances for the same, or to get the bodies of their dead cremated.

Current Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had promised to improve conditions of religious minorities in Pakistan during his election campaign, seemed supportive of the project and was seen to be taking steps to make the construction happen.

Not only were the construction plans for the temple, to be built by the Islamabad Hindu Panchayat, approved, the Pakistan PM also reportedly approved a grant of PKR 10 crore for the construction. A plot of 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres) was allotted for the construction of the temple and a cremation site.

OPPOSITION TO THE PROJECT FROM FUNDAMENTALISTS

However, opposition to the project began to grow as it became a reality, with the PML-Q, part of Imran Khan’s coalition government, as well as Islamic institutions like the Jamia Ashrafia, claiming that it was not permissible in Islam for a new temple to be built using government funds.

Islam is the State religion of Pakistan, even though religious minorities are supposed to have the right to practice their own religion under the law. Pakistan’s record on minority rights has been extremely poor over the years, as is well documented.

Islamist fundamentalists and majoritarians opposed the construction of the temple at all, not just the use of government funds. Muslim demonstrators had previously tried to camp out on the site of the plot back when it was allotted to the Islamabad Hindu Panchayat in 2018, refusing to allow construction to begin.

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PETITIONS FILED IN COURT, BORDER WALL VANDALISED

Despite the opposition to the project, it looked like the government was firmly behind the project, and that construction of the ‘Shri Krishna Mandir’ was going to proceed till just a couple of weeks ago.

On 24 June, the Parliamentary Secretary on Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi performed the groundbreaking ceremony, PTI reported, following which construction on a boundary wall, to mark out the plot, was begun.

However, soon after that, the trouble began in earnest. Three petitions were filed in the Islamabad High Court against the construction of the temple, arguing government funds could not be used for it, and questioning the legality of the project. As a result of these petitions, the Islamabad Capital Development Authority stopped construction of the boundary wall over the weekend of 4/5 July.

Opposition to the mandir gathered steam on social media, with several media outlets like 92 News running campaigns to shut down the project – they even claimed responsibility when the CDA stopped construction. The vitriol was ramped up over the weekend till a bunch of youths went and vandalised what had already been built of the wall.

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ISLAMABAD HIGH COURT DISMISSES PETITIONS, BUT IMRAN KHAN BLINKS

Many Pakistanis expressed their horror at the vandalism of the boundary wall and the efforts to stop the construction of the temple, and shared messages using the slogan ‘Mandir Tau Banega’.

On Tuesday, 7 July, the Islamabad High Court dismissed the petitions, ruling that the objections were invalid. However, while the court upheld the right of the Hindu Panchayat, to whom the land had been allotted, to build the temple using its own funds, the court did not rule on the issue of whether or not government funds could be used for the construction.

This was because in the aftermath of the petitions being filed, the Imran Khan government had referred this issue to the country’s Council of Islamic Ideology for an opinion. The court held that this particular issue in the petitions had become infructuous as a result.

Khan’s government has come in for severe criticism for what appears to be a capitulation to the hardliners. Amnesty International urged them to continue the project, saying:

“Halting the construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad is an unconscionable act of bigotry that must be reversed immediately. Everyone has a right to freedom of religion or belief, a right that is guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution and its international obligations.”

Pakistani commentators have urged Khan to resume the construction of the mandir on social media, while there has also been a strong campaign online against this move, which has featured images of Imran Khan superimposed on Hindu religious figures to show that he is not being Islamic enough.

This is not the first time Imran Khan has faced flak for appearing to appease Islamist hardliners. Soon after taking power, he appointed the well-respected Atif Mian as an economic advisor, only to backtrack after protests over him being an Ahmadiyya. He also failed to stand up for Asia Bibi after she was acquitted under the country’s archaic blasphemy laws.

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Topics:  Imran Khan 

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