Worshippers still waiting for full possession of Mari Mata Mandir

Hindus were barred from visiting the temple by a Muslim woman until high court intervention

KARACHI: The devotees of Mari Mata Mandir have waited almost 25 years to worship at their temple. They only have possession of 50 of the temple’s 286 square-yards.

The case regarding the mandir was in court for the past four years. The keys of the temple, which is located on Ratan Talao Akbar Road in Saddar, were handed over to the Hindu community by South Assistant Commissioner Sajjad Abro a year and a half ago on the Sindh High Court’s orders.

The conflict began after the Babri Mosque incident in 1992 in Ayodhya, India. The Babri Mosque demolition led to conflicts arising in neighbouring Pakistan - in retaliation, mobs attacked temples in the country.

In order to protect the Mari Mata Mandir, a woman named Lakshmi Bai placed a ‘taaziya’ inside the temple to protect it so that mobs would think it was an Imambargah. Lakshmi Bai, who later converted to Islam and is now known as Mai Jannat, refuses to let Hindus pray in the mandir anymore.



After she converted to Islam, Mai Jannat refused to leave the premises and she and her helpers do not let devotees or visitors step inside the temple. The Hindu community’s former helping hand now stopped them from setting foot into their temple.

The Sindh High Court ruled in favour of the Hindu community and they are now allowed to pray in the temple but Mai Jannat still creates hurdles for the worshippers.

Of the 286 square-yards, the mandir has been reduced to a small room with a temple bell hanging in the middle, some pictures and idols of Hindu Gods and an earthen stove just outside the room that is occasionally used to prepare food for devotees.

The Evacuee Trust, which is the controlling authority of the Mari Mata Mandir, has said in their legal documents that total land for mandir is 286 square-yards but the Hindu community are only allowed to utilise the small room and a passage.



“Our demand is that all of the land should be given to the temple then we will give a small portion of the land to Mai Jannat so that the decades-long conflict will come to an end,” said Vishal Rajput, a social worker for the temple. He also said that they respect other beliefs, which is why they want the issue to be resolved on good terms.

“We want interfaith harmony and do not want to fight anymore. We will give Mai Jannat a proper portion of the land but for that the Evacuee Trust has to play its part,” Rajput said, adding that they just want the right to pray freely in the premises.

Right now there are four shops that have been constructed on the land around the small room that now houses the temple and the rent from those shops is being collected by the Evacuee Trust.

An official of the Evacuee Trust, Zarif, told The Express Tribune that the current mandir structure has been renovated for the Hindu devotees by the trust and will be reopened soon. “They are free to go and pray there and there are no restrictions on them by any official or law enforcers,” he explained, adding that the Mai Jannat issue will be resolved between the parties.