Pak authorities restore land for first Hindu temple in Islamabad after public outcry

Construction of the first Hindu temple in Islamabad will go ahead on schedule after it was initially announced by the Pakistani Capital Development Authority (CDA) in the Islamabad High Court that the land allotment had been cancelled due to no construction having taken place. CDA spokesperson Syed Raza said that the decision was made in error due to a technicality in government-issued orders on land allotment.

Public criticism came to the fore after Dawn media first reported on Tuesday that the land allotment had been cancelled along with many others under a government decision which meant allotments of all lands issued to various offices, universities and other institutions on which no construction work had been started were cancelled. Raza declared that since the boundary wall for the temple had already been sanctioned at the 0.5 acre space in H-9/2, Islamabad, the cancellation did not apply to the Hindu temple.

"There was some sort of confusion and misinterpretation of the Cabinet decision and when the matter was brought into the notice of high-ups, the allotment was restored immediately," he said.

Last year, right wing groups had criticised the Pakistani government's decision to build a Hindu temple with government money but the opposition had been overcome after city management issued an order to the Hindu community to erect a boundary wall. The temple land allotment came in 2016 after direction from the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan which recognised the lack of places of worship for Hindus in the area.