An over 150-year-old Hindu temple was demolished in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar on Friday night using diggers and bulldozers, reported Dawn on the 16th of July.
The old Mari Mata Temple in Soldier Bazaar was razed to the ground by the local authorities. According to the Dawn report, locals claimed that the authorities carried out the demolition while the area was without electricity. They added that police vehicles were present to provide “cover” to the men operating the machines.
Except for the outer walls and the temple’s main gate, diggers and a bulldozer demolished the entire structure.
Shri Ram Nath Mishra is a priest of a nearby Shri Punch Mukhi Hanuman Mandir. He said, “It is a very old mandir. It is said to have been built over 150 years ago. The temple covered about 400 to 500 square yards and there had been talk of land grabbers having their eye on it. But last night the Mari Mata Mandir was just flattened.”
He added that the Mandir was managed by the Madrasi Hindu community of Karachi.
The local authorities claimed that the old structure was dangerous and might topple any day. They added that due to this, the mandir management temporarily moved most of the deities from the temple.
However, a member of the Madrasi Hindu community alleged that they were being forced to vacate by two persons, namely, Imran Hashmi and Rekha AKA Nagin Bai. He added that there were talks of selling the temple for an amount of 70 million rupees and the buyers had been planning to build a commercial building there. It has been alleged that forged documents in the name of an individual named Navaid have been created to transform the plot’s lease into a commercial one.
The Hindu community has urged the Pakistan-Hindu Council, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, and the Inspector General of Sindh Police to look into the matter.
Source: OpIndia
