Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed objections raised by a local lawyer to the construction of temple in Islamabad and made it clear the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed complete religious freedom to the minorities living in Pakistan.
The IHC Justice Aamer Farooq issued the verdict on a writ petition filed by a local earlier in which the petitioner had raised objections to the allotment of land for construction of temple in Islamabad.
The court had earlier reserved judgment which was however announced on Tuesday. Justice Aamer Farooq in the five-page judgment remarked that in the instant petition, the petitioner had challenged the allotment of a in the Sector H-9/2, Islamabad and construction of a temple thereon.
“The petitioner has questioned the construction of temple in Islamabad Capital Territory on the plot. He has also assailed allotment of the land for construction of temple and allocation and disbursement of funds in the sum of Rs100 million by the Federal Government.
However, the court observed that Deputy Attorney General had contended that no funding had yet been disbursed by the Federal Government for the purposes of construction of temple. “It was further submitted that the matter had been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for rendering its opinion regarding funding of money for the purposes of temple, etc, which fact was confirmed by Representative of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony,” observed the court.
According to the government’s counsel there was no bar for the allottee to construct temple on its own in light of the fact that under Article 20 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the minorities are entitled to profess, practice and propagate their religion with freedom which is subject to law, public order and morality.
The court is of the opinion that in so far as funding for the construction of Temple, Community Center and place for Cremation qua Hindu Community is concerned, the Federal Government has already referred the matter to Council of Islamic Ideology and no amount has yet been disbursed as submitted by Representative of Ministry of Religious Affairs; hence the grievance of the petitioners on the specific issue stand allayed and has become infructuous, for the time being. “Moreover, the contention that financing of the project by the Federal Government to small Hindu population in the area of Islamabad Capital Territory is waste of public money also does not call for any finding as the matter, at present, has been halted,” the verdict further reads.
The court also quoted the counsel for Capital Development Authority according to whom, the land was allotted for establishment of Temple Community Center and Cremation Ground to Institute of Hindu Panchayat (IHP) on 26.12.2017.
It was submitted that in the subsector H-9/2, Islamabad graveyards of the minorities are situated on land/plot allotted by Capital Development Authority and the referred sub-sector is designated for such purposes.
