AMRITSAR: The Pakistan government has finally given permission for the construction of Krishna temple in Islamabad after its state-run Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) ruled that Islamic laws allowed minorities to have their own religious place. CII had earlier issued a ‘fatwa’ against the construction of any new Hindu temple in Pakistan.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Hindu member National Assembly (MNA) Lal Chand Malhi, who headed the temple construction drive, told TOI that the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Islamabad, on Monday gave permission to the Islamabad Hindu Panchayat (IHP) to construct the boundary wall around the temple, a community centre and a cremation ground for Hindu community in Islamabad.
“After CII cleared the way for the construction of the temple, crematorium and community hall, the CDA has issued first permission to erect the boundary wall,” he said.
Earlier, after issuing a ‘fatwa’ against the construction of new Hindu temple and usage of government funds, the CII in the recent past had announced that Hindus and other minority communities in Pakistan had the constitutional right to construct new places of worship. Giving reference to Pakistan’s tradition, the CII had objected on the allocation of funds from the government for a non-government religious place.
The IHP had demanded Rs 100 million from Pakistan government for Rs 500 million projects of the construction of Hindu temple, community hall and crematorium which was objected by CII following which the Pakistan government sought advice from CII.
According to reports, as many as 3,000 Hindu families live in Islamabad and its surrounding and they didn’t have sufficient facilities for performing religious as well as last rites of their dead ones.
Notably, the CDA had in 2017 allotted a 20,000 square feet plot to IHP and three years later on June 23, 2020, the ground breaking ceremony of the Krishna temple was held which was however stalled after CII issued the fatwa.