Re: Pak Army To Raze Hindu Houses, Temple In Peshawar

http://www.dawn.com/2003/12/03/ed.htm#2

DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan
03 December 2003  Wednesday  08 Shawwal 1424  

EDITORIAL
Leave the temple alone

The Peshawar Cantonment Board's decision to demolish a residential
compound for minorities housing a 140-year-old temple there is most
regrettable. The cantonment board plans to build a commercial plaza on
the site of the temple and residential compound inhibited by some 70
families of the minority Balmiki community. Not only does this go
against the government's repeated claims of safeguarding the rights
and interests of the minorities, it sends the wrong message to the
rest of the world and reinforces our image abroad as an intolerant and
bigoted society that does not care much about its minorities. In fact,
there are several arguments against the razing of the temple.

Firstly, the temple is not an abandoned relic but a living place of
worship for the minority Balmiki community living in the compound and
outside. This is the foremost reason to preserve and protect it.

Secondly, the cantonment authorities can surely find an alternative
site for the proposed commercial plaza, one that does not require
demolishing either a residential compound or a temple within it.

It is unfortunate that the cantonment board should have decided on
such a course of action in the first place in utter disregard of the
human and political considerations involved in putting down an old
temple and residential compound to make way for a shopping centre.

The plan also shows a disturbing degree of insensitivity on the part
of the cantonment board's management and reflects society's double
standards. The mere thought of a possible demolition of a mosque to
make way for a commercial plaza would be enough to start a riot in
this country but we find nothing wrong in doing the same to a house of
worship for people from a religion other than our own. Since the
cantonment board comes under the purview of the defence ministry, the
federal government must see to it that constitutional guarantees to
minorities in Pakistan, especially with reference to protecting their
places of worship, are not violated in this particular case.

The temple and the residential compound must be left alone, and the
cantonment board directed to look for an alternative site for its
project elsewhere.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-12-2003_pg3_1

Daily Times, Pakistan
Tuesday, December 02, 2003 

EDITORIAL
Don't touch the Balmiki temple!

..... let us admit it is not always easy to prosper as a non-Muslim in
Pakistan when Islam is interpreted increasingly in an extreme and
fundamentalist way. Whenever there is a political crisis the focus
shifts to the minuscule non-Muslim communities and some disreputable
elements of society get away with injustice and cruelty towards the
minorities that depend for their security on the majority community.
For example, in 1992, just after the demolition of the Babri mosque in
India, a number of Hindu temples were destroyed in Pakistan. The
entire world condemned what the Indian fanatics had done to a Muslim
monument; it also had to condemn what the Muslims of Pakistan and
Bangladesh did to the innocent and helpless Hindu communities living
within them. When the Taliban government destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas
in Afghanistan, the international reaction was therefore quite
intense. One can therefore say that one big reason why the Taliban
lost international support, among other reasons, was their wonton
destruction of the Buddhas.

It would be inadvisable to oust the Balmikis from their dwelling in
Peshawar. Even if the cantonment board authority has the legal right
to do it, it should stay clear of demolishing the temple. The ministry
of defence has done the right thing by stopping the cantonment
authority from going ahead with the job of building a plaza in the
area. Any other plan would have passed muster but not a commercial
structure that actually replaces a place of worship. CBP should spend
some funds on the improvement of the Balmiki settlement if it can, but
it should not even think of destroying a place of worship. The global
backlash will be extreme and Pakistan will lose a lot of face just for
the sake of a commercial plaza.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-11-2003_pg7_5

Daily Times, Pakistan
Sunday, November 30, 2003
 
CBP poised to raze Hindu houses, temple

PESHAWAR: Hindus have planned to demonstrate on today (Sunday) against
the Cantonment Board, Peshawar's (CBP) decision to demolish their
houses and temple as a drive against encroachment.

Ram Lal, resident of Kalabari in the Cantonment area and community
leader, told Daily Times on Saturday that minority Member of the
National Assembly Giyan Singh and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam
leader Salim Saifullah Khan would also attend the demonstration at
1:30pm to pressure the CBP not to demolish their houses and the
temple.

He said the federal government asked the CBP to submit a report within
one month, which was on its way to the Prime Minister's Secretariat in
Islamabad. "The report favours demolition of houses and the temple,"
Mr Lal added.

"The demonstration aims to pressure the government not to dislocate
the Hindus living in the area since years back."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3260637.stm

BBC News
Thursday, 13 November, 2003, 10:08 GMT 

Pakistani Hindu temple faces demolition
By Haroon Rashid 

A 150-year-old Hindu temple in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has
become the focus of a property dispute involving the army.
 
The Balmiki temple is located in the Kalibari area of the city where a
small Hindu community is concentrated.

But the Kalibari area is part of the city's military cantonment and is
run by the army.

The army is saying that the people who run the temple, as well as the
owners of some 70 houses in the neighbourhood, must leave.

They have been served with eviction notices. 

The army wants to pull down the existing buildings and replace them
with a high-rise shopping complex.

The army says that Kalibari is the property of the local cantonment
board, and it has the right to vacate it.

Stiff resistance 

It has been trying to clear the area for the past 15 years, and has
met stiff resistance from the Hindu residents.

The presence of the Balmiki temple, which is the hub of the Hindu
community in this crowded neighbourhood, has become a sensitive issue.

The head priest, Ramlal, who has looked after the temple for the last
35 years, says the property in Kalibari belongs to the minorities.

"In 1861, four Hindu merchants were the owners of half of the
cantonment area. They built the houses in the Kalibari area to house
their employees. They have been living here since then," Ramlal told
BBC News Online.

He said the army would have confiscated the land and property a "long
time ago" if they owned it.

Local people do not want to move out of the area. 

"We have spent our entire lives in our house or the temple. They are a
part of our lives now," said Ms Devi Das.

Ramlal, who is also the local Hindu leader, said that residents of
Kalibari are not prepared to live in any other neighbourhood in
Peshawar.

But he said that the people would vacate their homes if they were
promised accommodation in the high-rise complex.
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http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2003-daily/14-11-2003/oped/editorial.htm

The News, Karachi, Pakistan
Friday November 14, 2003-- Ramazan 18, 1424 A.H. 

EDITORIAL
Double standards

.....  in the locality of Kali Bari, Saddar, within the Peshawar
Cantonment Board which body is an expensive piece of real estate at
the centre of the city, some 68 Hindu families were issued eviction
notices. Besides Hindus, Christians and Sikhs have been living here
alongside Muslims for some 150 years.

The Kali Bari land originally belonged to one Mehr Chand Khanna until
partition in 1947 when the Hindu community living there assumed
control and ownership. The documents are in the possession on the
Hindu community's elder Ram Lal. Their plea has been entrusted to the
Minority MNA from NWFP, Gian Singh. The executive officer of the
Cantonment Board, Fida Hussain claims, however, that on the death of
the original owner the property reverted to the Cantonment Board as
the Settlements Department never allotted the land to the present
residents or their forefathers and that they have frequently been
issued notices to vacate.

More controversially still, an old Hindu Temple which was built there
in 1861 still exists and is an active place of worship. People can say
that the idea to evict this place would naturally mean the demolition
of this temple and the former homes of the Hindus being asked to
leave. .....

..... Our Cantonment Board officials obviously paid no heed to the
public relations implications at large, reflective of the general
conduct of affairs of our officialdom. They may claim that the
Cantonment area is a security sensitive area, but surely that should
have been the case some forty years also. Humanitarian issues or
advance alternative arrangements for this relatively underprivileged
community reflects only insensitivity to the suffering that this
situation would provoke for those being turned out of their homes.

We have already seen the aftermath of the Ayodhya affair and the
domino effect of incitement and fury against Muslims in India. When
fuel is added to the barely cooled embers there by a provocative
Indian media out to demonstrate Pakistani double standards, are we not
placing our already vulnerable Muslim brethren into yet another
dangerous predicament?

While our leaders are concerned actively in changing Pakistan's image
and perceptions abroad, serious note as well as some undertaking or
intervention is needed at this point to clarify to the world that
Pakistan does indeed cherish and care for its minorities and that
justice does prevail for all regardless of creed, race, caste or
colour.