The Sindh High Court has issued a stay order on the demolition of the ancient Shri Laxmi Narain Mandir’s structure which has been allegedly ordered by a sitting member of the provincial assembly, himself a Hindu, Mukesh Kumar Chawla.
On Friday, Chief Justice Mushir Alam also appointed the court’s nazir to inspect the site within ten days to find out what had happened and if any construction had taken place.
Kailash Wishram, a resident of one of the residential quarters on the temple’s premises, went to court against the ministry of ports and shipping, the chairman of the Karachi Port Trust, Port Grand and the SHO of Jackson police station.
He claims to be one of the practicing Hindus of a caste, which is not given equal status by other castes. He said that Shri Laxmi Narain Mandir, located at Native Jetty, off Jinnah Bridge, West Wharf was constructed before Partition. Hindus performed their religious rituals at the temple where access to seawater was one of the essential elements.
His lawyer, Zain Jatoi, stated that access to seawater was being blocked by constructions undertaken by Port Grand and the Karachi Port Trust. This would threaten the place of worship, he argued.
On a specific question from the court, the petitioner contended that this action was being taken at the behest of Mukesh Chawla, who was an MPA and a member of the Hindu Panchayat.
The SHC division bench directed Wishram to add Chawla and the Hindu Panchayat as respondents in the petition.
The bench directed its office to issue notice to the secretary of ports and shipping, the KPT chairman, Port Grand, Sindh Excise & Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla and the Hindu Panchayat within three days.
“In the meanwhile, the mandir, staircase, boundary wall and corridors originally constructed may not be demolished,” said the court. It directed for the matter to be placed before a bench hearing matters related to construction and property. The hearing was adjourned for ten days.
Stairway to heaven
The maharaj of the temple and the Pakistan Hindu Council’s Dr Ramesh Kumar were both unaware of the litigation.
According to the Maharaj, the construction was being done courtesy MPA Mukesh Kumar Chawla. They were building “two sets of stairs and a floor in the middle”. “It will be beautiful,” he said.
“People have said that the route to the temple is being blocked, but this is wrong, no such thing is happening. I have spoken to Mukesh Chawla and he will be visiting the temple in a few days to look at this.”
For his part, Kumar said that the issue was brought up twice with the federal minister for ports, Babar Ghauri. “He said that the Karachi Port Trust would be in touch over the issue and get it resolved,” he told The Express Tribune.
There are only two places in Sindh - Sukkur and Karachi - where Hindus can go to scatter ashes into the water
Calls to Port Grand’s media representative went unanswered.
PPI with additional input by our correspondent
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2012.
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It is not that the whole Hindu community is destroying the temple.. it is being done at the behest of one of the many corrupt politicians of the ruling party. His father was also involved in a sale of part of land belonging to a Mandir in another part of Karachi. More so, he is the same politician who declared that no forced conversion is going on in interior Sindh. Shri Laxmi Narayan Temple is one of the oldest temples in the city. It is quite clear that the demolition is being carried out to please Port Grand & KPT Officials. Plus the Maharaj of the temple itself is a greedy person as can be identified through his comments that "They were building “two sets of stairs and a floor in the middle", when there already are 02 sets of stairs and floor. They have already constructed half a wall which blocks the view of the sea plus demolished Sai Baba's mandir within the temple.. just atrocious... Hats off to Kailash Wishram, we are with you
:Good we are always with u. Might want to read the article again? Its not demolition its construction and done by Hindus themselves. Stop using fake muslim name to denotes ur muslim :datari
@Amir
Might want to read the article again? Its not demolition its construction and done by Hindus themselves. Stop using fake muslim name to denotes ur muslim :p
@Amir
You might want to read the article again its Hindus themselves
well the hindus himself demolishing their MANDIR and the muslim judge take a stay order... i think the hindus creating problems for ther hindus bros blaming MUSLIMS
Vienna,September 15,2012 It is a kind of blasphemy initiated by the Pakistani Hindus against their own god Laxmi Narain or Narayan, the giver of wealth near the port of Karachi. It is interesting the low caste Kailash Wishram is a resident of the temple that is served by sea water.It looks as if the god likes the sea´s salt water for brushing the teeth.This litigation is indeed full of fantasies.I would like to see how it develops for the Laxmi Narain god.As for India we have several Birla owned therefore named Birla Laxmin Narain temples.These temples help the tycoon in capital accumulation through the hundi boxes! Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring TTTMM India --Kulamarva Balakrishna
What if this was a masjid? Will we be even discussing a demolotion? And we claim we are better at protecting minorities?