Soldier Bazaar temple: Builder, owner go to court against media for 'distorting the facts'
Builder Ameen Lakhani, his partner, Muhammad Shoaib, and a man who claimed to be the owner of the plot, Ismail Gora, went to the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday. Ismail claimed that he possesses documents that confirm his ownership of the disputed property on plot no. 39 in Dolly Khatta neighbourhood.
Earlier on Saturday, the residents went to the court and requested the judges to restrain the builders from demolishing Shri Rama Pir Mandir, which is reportedly located on the same plot. The judges granted the stay order while the builders went ahead and demolished the alleged encroachments.
According to Ismail, Ram Chander, Jay Prakash and Panchoo Shankar, who claimed to be poojari and shewadris of the temple, have encroached upon his land on the pretext of the temple and are blackmailing the petitioners and the administration, including the police. He said that these men misled the Hindu community and the rest of the residents in the name of religion and took over 100 square yards of his property. The Military Estates Officer ordered the removal of the encroachment since it falls under cantonment jurisdiction, he claimed. The encroachers portrayed it as a religious dispute on television channels, he added.
Ismail, Lakhani and Shoaib requested the court to restrain the police from registering any case against them or dispossesse them from the land. He pleaded that an inquiry be conducted at the level of a DIG-rank officer. They also requested the court to direct the government agencies to make sure that news channels refrain from addressing this highly sensitive matter.
“The way the media has reported the issue, it has given an impression that this is a religious dispute,” Shoaib told The Express Tribune later. “It gives Pakistan a bad name in the world.”
On Wednesday, the Sindh High Court bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqir, directed the police and other officials to deal with this issue in accordance with the law. Justice Baqir also issued notices to the defence secretary, Military Estates Officer, Karachi, city TPO, Nabi Bux police SHO, and three private Hindu litigants, who had taken the matter to court earlier.
Until December 17, the respondents shall not indulge in any illegal or unlawful act in the matter and shall conduct themselves in a manner strictly in accordance with the law, said the court order. Meanwhile, the deputy attorney general and Sindh advocate general have also been told to file the comments of the federal and provincial authorities by December 17.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2012.
COMMENTS (31)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@secularsheet: You believed on 100 years old's story because it's on media. and you refused the real image because your so called unbiased media didn't show it. Wow wow, you're an authentic researcher now.
@Zalim singh: It seems, you don't know much. Many masaajids have been demolished in Karachi as they are encroaches.
@ Jut
READ MY PREVIOUS POST
Indian trolls. Babri Masjid? Oh. I get it. According to u, even though it is called a masjid, it is not a masjid..... Lol
@Indian Hindu: Sajid iqbal is trying to correct the misinformation being spread by Indian troll. Whats wrong with that. You guys just don't get it.
@gp65: And how do u know this.... Where is the proof? Please get your facts right before making any such statements
Advice:Try to read Stories from your own newspaper rather than images provided by far right karkooons
Around three or four houses and a century-old temple, the Shri Rama Pir Mandir, were demolished by a private builder.
_ http://tribune.com.pk/story/474275/the-homeless-will-brave-cold-nights-and-put-up-a-fight/ _
whether this mandir was built 100 years ago or 12 years ago is not the question, the real question is whether they could do such thing to Masjid or Imam Bargah? i am really ashamed to be Pakistani and Karachiite, this is really disgusting, don't know when we will stop oppressing our minorities.
Aamir Liaquat Husain @AamirLiaquat You did not loose anything Jasmeen, infact you have proved that how to fight for right..I am with you.. www.aamirliaquat.com
It is obvious from all the pictures that the religious artifacts were placed upon the rubble after the demolition. Anyone thinking otherwise must be terribly naive to imagine those things would still be sitting there intact and unscathed after all that concrete came crashing down. Besides, the entire temple was NOT demolished, only that part of it was which was encroaching upon the plaintiff's property. Encroachment is one of the WORST infrastructure ills this country suffers from. Our people have an entitlement mentality - they believe everything they lay their sight on is theirs. This attitude needs to be dealt with an iron fist - no tolerance for land grabs whether it's street vendors setting up shop and blocking off public spaces like sidewalk and roads, or mosques and temples eating up other people's property.
@Sajid Iqbal: So I guess 12 years seems to you to justify it's removal as an encroached property and only because the builder claims it encroaches - seriously, did anyone expect the builder's defense to be on any different lines??? . I want to apply the same yardstick (12 years or even 10 years) to the 100s of illegally constructed and managed mosques in India - you'll be singing a different tune in your comments then, my friend.
Btw - the so called Babri Masjid, a derelict structure, was an encroachment on land where a temple was razed by Babar and a mosque built in his times - in modern times, it was an abandoned ruin where no one had offered prayers for several decades before the dispute came to light in the 90s. The Muslim community in India even then showed their hardline attitude by not giving up the land to a temple which means far more to all Hindus around the world - this place is like Hinduism's Mecca and kept claiming that once mosque was built there - forget everything else before or after cause that's convenient to Muslims - it would always be a mosque. Again, by the same yardstick, this place where the demolition took place, will always be a temple, won't it? You people are simply amazing - brazen in your anti Hinduism, anti Minorityism and brazen in your defense of such actions. And then you wonder why the world hates you?
@gp65: Where does it say that it was built a 100 years ago?
@gp65: You distort the facts on a daily basis. Who told you the mandir was built 100 years back? Your hatred for Pakistan is evident everytime you write on these pages.
"Builder Ameen Lakhani, his partner, Muhammad Shoaib, and a man who claimed to be the owner of the plot, Ismail Gora, went to the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday. Ismail claimed that he possesses documents that confirm his ownership of the disputed property on plot no. 39 in Dolly Khatta neighbourhood. Earlier on Saturday, the residents went to the court and requested the judges to restrain the builders from demolishing Shri Rama Pir Mandir, which is reportedly located on the same plot. The judges granted the stay order while the builders went ahead and demolished the alleged encroachments. According to Ismail, Ram Chander, Jay Prakash and Panchoo Shankar, who claimed to be poojari and shewadris of the temple, have encroached upon his land on the pretext of the temple and are blackmailing the petitioners and the administration, including the police. He said that these men misled the Hindu community and the rest of the residents in the name of religion and took over 100 square yards of his property. The Military Estates Officer ordered the removal of the encroachment since it falls under cantonment jurisdiction, he claimed. The encroachers portrayed it as a religious dispute on television channels, he added.." If this is so and this is true then why media published the wrongful news without proper and real investigation and defamed the country and why this has been media's old bad habit that media always publishes the news without knowing and seeing the facts and realities regarding any news is going publish???The real culprits must have to punished sternly and strictly after the most exact and complete investigation if they proven guilty and responsible to defame the country and show the negative image of country and army so that they could never do so again....
Although I am against any kind of religious oppression, and earlier I raised my voice against the incident on various social networks and news websites, but I don't know why I find the pictures fabricated. How come the statues of the dieties and this photo lie unscathed and firmly standing while the rest of the building is a complete rubble? Didn't any of the statues stumble? :S
@F Vihari: Do you have brain? that was pretty common sense that people will take off statues & pictures before demolition.
Let the court decide whether it is encroachment or not. Once the judgement is passed, then the unlawful owner can be vacated, lawfully if necessary. How lawful is the act of demolition when stay order is in force, Does this not spoil pak's image, Isnt this contempt of court?
@F Vihari: All parties involved acknowledged the presence of those statues and say they were removed from the building before it was demolished.
So in the name of religion they got the plot; If justice is served here then it also should be served to the various reglious sects which get the land by encroaching on them; be it mosques or any other
@gp65: The mandir was built only 12 years ago not 100 years.
image
he owned 100 year old property and now suddenly he realizes he has to remove its so called encroaches or its just a made up drama like the nationalization of temple lands everywhere in pakistan to demolish them ? its just like claiming ram mandir was hindu land and babar and his encroaches lmade that dis-functional mosque to claim its land .
It says "Until December 17, the respondents shall not indulge in any illegal or unlawful act in the matter and shall conduct themselves in a manner strictly in accordance with the law, said the court order." Does that mean they can indulge in "illegal or unlawful acts" after Dec 17?
had they touched a mosque, they would have been in hiding.
Waa jee, a private builder is justifying his actions by linking criticism of his actions, to tarnishing Pakistan's image! His partner, the Military estate office, seems to believe that they can do as they please in cantonment areas. What a pathetic joke! If you have nothing to hide, why do they need to get stay orders to stop media coverage? And how exactly is this a "Highly sensitive matter" that the media should not be allowed to say anything about it? Just because these land grabbers have had their way for years, doesnt mean they can now arbitrate on what constitutes "sensitive matters".
Thank GOD at least somebody is taking these terrorists (media) to the cleaners n i hope they will get what is long due ....
It is not a religious depute, but certainly shows the hatred for Hindus in Pakistan.
i hope ET face the wrath this time!
Is it just me or do the pictures and statues appear to be in remarkably good condition?
How can a temple that was built a 100 years back be an encroachment in a county that is only 65 years old. Even if that be the case there was a stay order given by the court until Dec 7 which was not honoured by the builder.
This spin may fool the people within Pakistan but not anyone else.
Shame on Media :O