Hindus Protest Demolition of Temple in Karachi

A large number of Pakistani Hindus today joined a protest outside the Press Club here over the demolition of an 80-year-old temple in the city's Soldier Bazar area.

The Krishna or Rama Peer Mandir at Dholi Khata in Soldier Bazar has become a bone of contention between the minority Hindu community and a powerful builder, who bought the land on which the temple was built from the military estate office through a government auction.

"Religious articles, including pictures and statuettes of our gods, are still lying in the rubble of the demolished temple and families living in the compound on which the temple was built still remain homeless," Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, patron of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told PTI.

Several families displaced by the demolition of the temple participated in the protest. Observers said the issue highlighted the growing insecurity of Pakistan's minorities.

Vankwani, a member of the Sindh chapter of the PML-N party, said authorities had trampled the sentiments of Hindus across the world by razing the historical temple.

"The departments responsible for this gross injustice are the military estate office and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), who auctioned off the land to a powerful builder without caring about our sentiments," he said.

An ETPB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the temple was illegally built on military land that had been auctioned. The temple was legally razed on the orders of a court, he said.

Many Hindu temples in Karachi have in recent years been the subject of disputes involving commercial builders.

The ETPB official said the dispute over the shrine in Soldier Bazar began in 2008, when the Military Estates Officer issued eviction notices to the temple and more than a dozen Hindu families living in houses built around it.

But Vankwani insisted that maps with the ETPB showed the temple was present on the plot even before Partition. "The Hindu families have been living in the compound since Partition and instead of being thrown out, they should have been offered ownership rights for a price," he said.

Mukesh Kumar Jaidia, a resident of Doli Khata, said the government could have spared the temple. "This incident shows that there is no care for Hindus in Pakistan," he said.

The 1998 census - the last official population count - placed Pakistan's Hindu population at 2.5 million.

FILED ON: Dec 16, 2013 21:19 IST
Courtesy:news dot outlookindia dot com

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Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims blast Rick Santorum on ‘equality’ comment

Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus are accusing Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of bigotry and ignorance after he said that “equality” is solely a Judeo-Christian concept.
“Where do you think the concept of equality comes from?” Santorum said on the campaign trail last Friday (Jan. 20). “It doesn’t come from Islam. It doesn’t come from the East and Eastern religions. It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Not everyone agreed.
“Sen. Santorum’s presidential campaign is now playing to the lowest common denominator of religious bigotry and prejudice by attacking Eastern religions and Islam,” said Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation. Santorum’s comments, Shukla added, “show a profound ignorance of the teachings of Dharma spiritual traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.”
Santorum’s campaign did not answer repeated requests for comment.
Critics said Santorum — a devout Catholic — not only has his politics wrong, but also his history.
For example, in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, the god Krishna writes, “I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear.”
“Indian religions predate Abraham, Jacob and all that Rick Santorum was talking about,” said Sulekh Jain of Sugar Land, Texas, chairman of the International School for Jain Studies. “All souls are equal in every way. All feel pain and all feel pleasure. This concept is deeply embedded in the whole philosophy of Jainism.”
Sikhs, who also trace their religion to India, were equally upset.
“In Sikhism, all human beings have equal status in the eyes of God. No differentiation in status or ceremonies or rights is made between men and women, rich and poor, foreigner and countryman, high caste or low caste,” said Manbeena Kaur, education director for the New York-based Sikh Coalition.
“Sikhs have had this belief in and practice of equality as a spiritual mandate long before the political revolutions that brought freedom to America and much of the Western world.”
Buddhism expert Toshie Kurihara argues equality was a foundational teaching of the Buddha.
“The Buddha preached against the caste system and advocated equality of all people. From the beginning, Buddhism espoused the concept of equality of all people,” she wrote last year in the Journal of Oriental Studies.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said it would send Santorum a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy text.
“The Quran is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum’s inaccurate and offensive remarks,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman.
The group cited Quran verses and sayings of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that supported equality. For example, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, “All people are equal as the teeth of a comb.”

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Courtesy : washingtonpost dot com

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