பாகிஸ்தான் : தமிழர்கள் கராச்சியில் கட்டப்பட்ட பழமை வாய்ந்த கோவில் இடிக்கப்பட்டது

Invasion of sacred ground

Text and Photos by Amar Guriro

KARACHI: Compared to heritage-rich Lahore, cultural sites in Karachi are scarce and if you exclude the old buildings of the British era, there are almost none. In this scenario, Karachiites should workto preserve their culture, not carelessly erase it.

Unfortunately, Karachi’s heritage is being eroded by greed and corruption. A Hindu temple that has weathered a century of time, is failing against the acid of greed and power. A portion of the Shri Mari Mata Mandar in Doli Khata, Saddar, was demolished by people with influence and power, fuelled by lust for land. One should realise that the temple not only holds religious importance to many Hindus, it is a symbol of Karachi’s culture, a piece of history preserved in a developing cosmopolitan city. ‘Doli’ is a cradle-shaped device used to transport brides, royalty and priests. Before partition, Hindus used to take statues of gods and goddesses in Dolis to this temple on special occasions, giving the area its name. This proves that the temple’s importance exceeds the boundaries of religion and merges with the history of Karachi itself.

Even today, several Hindus from Madras, Rajasthan and Gujarat live in the area. Meeran Bai, the elderly caretaker of the temple, said that in Doli Khata there were about a dozen Hindu temples of which only four remain. “Even today people sometimes take statues of the Mata in Dolis, but not often. Only on some special occasion, Hindus of the city gather at the temple,” said 42- year-old Ashok Kumar.

Ignore the fact that there are people trying to demolish the temple for a moment. Hardly anyone cares about preserving it. The temple is located on the edge of a huge sewerage nullah and according to Ashok, there were only some small drains, which grew into a huge dump because of increasing pollution and lack of concern. This lack of concern has allowed a handful of people with some influence to take over the temple. “Some armed men of an influential local resident entered the area and started demolishing the temple. They only left when the police came but they warned that they will return to seize the temple’s land,” said Meeran Bai.

Ashok said that that the temple’s land is registered with the cantonment board and he has all the related ownership documents but the people have made fake ownership documents through the Auqaf Department of the Sindh government. “They warned us to vacate the land, otherwise, they will forcibly demolish the temple,” said Ashok, showing the ownership documents. He revealed the history of the temple’s architecture, “My father told me that same architect who designed the Swami Narain Temple on Bundar Road designed and constructed this temple.” Pointing at the aged stones, Meeran Bai said that the temple was constructed a century ago, when the British ruled the subcontinent.

Meeran’s family were natives of Madras in India, before partition, her late husband Maharaj Kishan migrated to Karachi to start a hotel and in 1947 when India was divided, her family preferred to stay in Karachi rather than moving back to Madras. “At the time my husband’s grandfather ran the temple and when he died my husband became its caretaker. We started living near the temple and since then we are here,” she said.

Showing old ownership documents of the 814 square feet of land on which the temple and her home is built, she said that she was asked several times to sell the land but she refused to do so as it was a holy place for Hindus.

A decade ago one of her neighbours asked her to allow him space outside the temple so he may temporarily set up his vegetable push cart there. “Later the vegetable vendor managed to occupy the land with the help of some local influential people,” she said. Ashok revealed that he has demanded the federal, provincial government and related authorities to protect them from the people who have some how managed to acquire fake ownership documents from the Auqaf Department.

Though Ashok alleges that the armed men have the fake documents, however, the rules of the Auqaf Department reveal that the department has nothing to do with the ownership rights of non-Muslim religious places. “Though I have left the department but one thing is clear that the property and ownership rights of religious places of religious minorities are not related to the said department, so Auqaf can not interfere in such matters,” said former Auqaf Department Provincial Secretary Liaquat Ali Khan. He added that these matters are looked after at the federal government level and all these religious places belonging to religious minorities come under the control of the Federal Government Evacuee Property Trust Board.

Evacuee Property Trust Board member and Directorate of Minority Affairs Sindh Director Hemraj Rathi said that he was not aware of the issue and rejected Ashok’s allegations that his opponents have somehow managed to acquire fake documents from the Auqaf Department. “The ownership and property rights of most of the religious places of religious minorities have already been declared and no provincial department can issue fresh documents,” he said, however, he added that in the case of the Shir Mari Mata Mandar he does not know if fake documents have been shown or not, and stated that if something has been reported the board will look in to the matter.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\08\story_8-11-2008_pg12_6