Following a protracted legal fight, “illegal occupiers” of a 1,200-year-old Hindu temple in Pakistan’s Lahore city were forced out, according to the federal agency in charge of minorities’ places of worship in the nation, which announced on Wednesday that the temple will be restored.
A Christian family had their possession of the Valmiki Mandir (temple) located close to the well-known Anarkali Bazaar Lahore taken from them by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) last month.
The only functioning temple in Lahore, outside Krishna Temple, is Valmiki Temple. Only the Valmiki caste Hindus have been allowed to worship at the temple for the past 20 years by the Christian family, which claims to have converted to Hinduism.
Amir Hashmi, a spokesperson for the ETPB, told PTI that the Valmiki Temple would soon be repaired in accordance with a “master plan.”
“At the Valmiki Temple today, more than 100 Hindu, Sikh, and Christian dignitaries gathered. Hindus participated in their holy rites while eating lungar for the first time after it was retrieved from the grabbers “he stated.
More than 20 years prior, the Christian family had seized the temple.
According to an ETPB employee who spoke to Dawn newspaper, the land belonging to the temple was given to the ETPB in the income record; nevertheless, in 2010–2011, the family, claiming to be the rightful owner of the property, filed a lawsuit in civil court.
Following the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India in 1992, a vengeful crowd carrying guns barged into the Valmiki Temple. The idols of Krishna and Valmiki were destroyed, along with kitchen utensils and the gold that had been used to adorn the statues was taken.
Both the temple and the building were burned to the ground. The stores in the area also caught fire, and it took the authorities days to put out the flames..
According to the ETPB spokesman, a one-man commission established by the Pakistani Supreme Court made recommendations to the government, noting that the temple needed to be renovated to give the Hindu community better workshop facilities.
