Adil Najam

Updates: here and here.

Following from the earlier post on the reported destruction of a Hindu temple in Lahore, the confusion not only continues but compounds.

This is what we know:

On May 28, 2006, Dawn reported that a Hindu Temple in Rangmahal, Lahore, had been demolished to make way for a commercial complex, contrary to the rules of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (EPTB).

On June 13, 2006, The Times of India and other Indian news organizations were reporting on the BJP launch of a protest against this destruction of the temple in Pakistan.

On June 15, 2006, Zee News India reported that the Indian External Affairs Ministry had “taken up” the matter with the government of Pakistan at a “sufficiently senior level.”

On June 16, 2006, The Daily Times reported that Pakistan’s Foreign Office had rejected reports of the temple’s demolition as “baseless,â€Â? saying that “the Krishna Mandir in Lahore is safe. The temple referred to in sections of the press is not the Krishna Mandir but abandoned property being used as a part-commercial facility, according to the EPTB.â€Â? It was also highlighted that ‘The Krishna Mandir’ is located on Ravi Road while the property referred to in news reports is in Rang Mahal.â€Â? The Foreign Office statement also said that a temple did exist in the same locality about 300 feet from the property in question, it said. “That mandir is intact. Around 35 people reside on the property surrounding it, and have lived there since independence,â€Â? the statement said.

Adil Najam
The Kominas–a ‘Muslim Punk’ band led by two Pakistani-Americans (Basim Usmani and Shahjehan Khan)–will be playing in Brooklyn, New York today (June 17, 2006).

The reason for this plug, however, is not just because they are Pakistani-American kids making socially facinating and provocative music (see Boston Globe writeup on them here). It is, even more so, becasue this particular concert is being held to benefit the Maple Grove Hindu Temple in Minnesota, which was vandalized in early May:

Two 19-year-olds were arrested May 10 and charged with vandalising a partially completed Hindu temple in Maple Grove, MN, on April 5. Maple Grove Police arrested local resident Paul Gus Spakousky and Tyler William Tuomie of Andover, MN, and charged them with first-degree criminal damage to property and third-degree burglary, both felonies. The two spent a few days in Hennepin County Jail after their arrest and were later released on a bond of $20,000 each, according to a spokesperson for the police department. Several of the deities were damaged in the attack, forcing the organisers to postpone the scheduled June 4 inauguration of the 43,000 square feet temple built at a cost of $9 million.

In an inspiring show of ‘Desi’ solidarity against religious intolerance of all kinds, Basim and Shahjehan concieved the idea of this fundraiser; a gesture that we shoudl all apprecaite as well as learn from.

Adil Najam

If you go to the website of The Daily Times for today (June 17, 2006) and look at the very first section–called Main News–you will see 5 top headlines of the day. When you look at the five stories together, they tell an even more sorry and depressing tale than each one does individually.

The very first story is about 40 stockbrokers at the Lahore Stock Exchange being served notices for short selling. This happens to be the least bad news for the day.

The next item is not just sad, but tragic. It is about the brutal murder of tribal journalist Hayatullah Khan, who went missing on December 5 last year while investigating the death of an Al Qaeda operative and was found dead in North Waziristan on Friday. The story quotes Mir Ali Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Fida Khan: “He was shot in the head from behind…. He was handcuffed and had a long beard, suggesting he spent a long time in captivity. He looked very weak.â€Â? (More details on this are available at WATANDOST: Inside News About Pakistan).

The third news item in the Main News section is simply titled “Man Stabbed to Death” but is clearly much more than that. This news is actually about the lethal stabbing of a man accused of blasphemy, and this right outside the Muzaffargah District Court.

“A police team was taking blasphemy accused Abdul Sattar Gopang to the sessions court for a hearing when it was attacked by two men, Muhammad Imran and Muhammad Iqbal,� Acting District Police Officer Muhammad Zubair Dreshak said. Police have arrested the assailants. Gopang, a toll tax contractor, had been accused of making “blasphemous remarks� against God and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).