The Islamabad Hindu Panchayat mentioned that it has decided to stop the construction of a new Krishna temple after a few Muslims razed down the boundary wall of the temple.
In the video that is going viral on social media, a Pakistani Muslim can be seen destroying the partially constructed boundary wall. The man identified as Malik Shani Awan invokes the name of Allah while demolishing the temple. To add to the effect, he even added background music for the video that roughly says “I have not let my children suffer… I am Pakistan.” In another video, he expressed his thanks to fellow Pakistanis for their overwhelming support. Before he began with the destruction of the temple, he had expressed his gratitude towards Allah for stopping the construction of the temple.
The facebook profile of Malik Shani Awan mentions him as working for a news channel, 99 News. It says that he is from Islamabad but lives in Rawalpindi. His entire profile is filled with posts asking for people to stop the construction of the temple. He had shared posts that urged Muslims to prove their Muslimness by stopping the construction of the temple. In a post he had vowed that he will never let a temple be constructed. In another post he had referred to Lord Hanuman as ‘bandar’ (monkey).
The construction of the temple had faced lot of opposition from Muslims. The Pakistani Government had said that they would consult Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and proceeded to halt the construction of the temple citing legal reasons.
According to Pritam Das Rathi, a Hindu civil cervant, around 3000 Hindus live in Islamabad and surrounding regions without a temple or a crematorium. The demand for this Krishna temple has been a long standing one, says Lal Chand Malhi, a Hindu lawmaker and a Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaaf politician. This temple complex was to comprise of a cremation ground, visitors area, parking area and a community hall.
However, the construction has been stopped by the Hindu panchayat following the destruction by Islamic elements. They would reach out to the Capital Development Authority to resume construction.
Earlier Islamic leaders had attacked the Imran Khan government for granting funds to the construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad as they considered it to be against Pakistan’s ideology. They said that building a temple on taxes of Muslims will not be tolerated.