Pak civil society rejects hardliners’ temple call

AMRITSAR: Amid protests against the construction of a

Hindu temple

in

Islamabad

by a handful of hardliners and a few politicians eyeing

Muslim majority vote bank

, the Pakistan’s civil society has extended support to the cause and shown magnanimity towards minority Hindu community.

TOI on Friday talked to a section of common Pakistanis, who not only extended their support to the construction of temple, but also rejected the objections raised by Islamist fundamentalists. Talking over phone from Islamabad, Safeer

Ullah Khan

, director, Theatre Walley, a theatre group, said, “The logics given by the persons or the institutions opposing the construction of temple are meaningless and unrewarding and that is why their petitions against the temple couldn’t qualify even to be heard at the Islamabad high court.”

A researcher Aamar Rashid said the Article 20 of the Pakistani constitution makes it clear that all religious denominations have the right to establish their places of worship and as tax-paying citizens, the Hindus have as much right to use public resources as Muslims. “After all, if the government can subsidise

Hajj

for thousands of Pakistani Muslim’s every year, why can it not contribute to the building of a Hindu temple for once?”

The encouraging thing is that ever since the controversy erupted, most mainstream parties have favoured the construction of temple and denounced the propaganda against it, he said.

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