Finally, the board of Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to allocate 4 kanal to the temple for Hindu community in Sector H-9, Islamabad, to establish a worship center, at CDA headquarter in its 18th board meeting on Friday.
The CDA board meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sheikh Anser Aziz, who approved the allocation of land to Hindu temple in federal capital.
Previosuly, the Hindu community claimed that on their religious, cultural occasions they do not have any place for worship. Like, at Diwali, a number of people celebrated the festival at home amongst friends and family. According to Arjit Shamra, there were some 20 females and 16 men from Hindu community in Islamabad and most of them live in sector F-6.
Hindus in Islamabad, unlike rest of the country, have had little problems with muslims, considering they are only 36, but there are still things that they yearn for: such as a temple for worshipping.
“The Muslims have their mosques to worship; christians have churches but we [in Islamabad] have no place to gather and celebrate and worship on our holy occasions,” said Sharma, who lives in Islamabad. He said currently there are two temples in Islamabad, one at Saidpur Village and the other at Rawal Dam. The Saidpur temple has been turned into a tourist spot and the Rawal Dam temple is in litigation, with Hindus not allowed access to it, he added.
The Rawal Dam temple is also in bad condition, and while a number calls for its maintenance have been made, little has been done to-date. Before partition, Hindu and Sikh population inhabited Rawal village. There were over a hundred households in the village of which only 40 belonged to Muslims.
Saidpur, apart from other structures of religious significance, boasts a shrine of Rama. Around 1580 AD, Akbar’s trusted general, Raja Man Singh, stopped at Rawalpindi on his way to Kabul. One day, Said Khan took Raja Man Singh to the village for sightseeing. Raja Man Singh liked the village’s serene atmosphere and decided to build a temple there. The general was fond of architecture and had built a number of temples in the Potohar area of Punjab.
