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Historic Ram Leela temple in Pakistan's Dera Ismail Khan sealed after protests over plaza plan
Activists and Hindu community members stopped work on the heritage building, which they say was to be pulled down for a commercial plaza. They want an inquiry and the issue raised in Pakistan's National Assembly.
Key points
- Authorities sealed the Ram Leela temple in Rahim Bazaar, Dera Ismail Khan, on Saturday.
- Protesters say it was to be demolished for a commercial plaza.
- The temple is among about 400 heritage buildings in the city listed by the Evacuee Trust Property Board.
Authorities in Dera Ismail Khan, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have locked and sealed the historic Ram Leela temple in the city’s Rahim Bazaar after civil society activists and members of the Hindu community moved to stop its demolition.
The temple was sealed on Saturday. Days earlier, Assistant Commissioner Hamid Siddiq had sealed the building and halted work at the site after public protests. Activists say the old structure was to be knocked down to make way for a commercial plaza. The developer has not been named.
The temple is one of about 400 buildings in Dera Ismail Khan listed as cultural heritage properties by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the body that manages property left behind by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India at Partition.
At a joint meeting hosted by Sohail Ahmed Azmi, president of the city’s civil society group, Hindu community representatives including the former provincial lawmaker Kishore Kumar condemned the proposed construction. Participants questioned whether the authorities had any legal power to allow building on the site and called for an inquiry.
They want the city’s elected representatives to raise the matter in the National Assembly, and plan complaints to the district administration, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the archaeology department. Civil society groups, traders, writers and heritage campaigners, they said, would resist anything that damages the city’s heritage.