ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Friday stopped construction of the boundary wall on the plot meant for the temple citing legal reasons, while the prime minister will direct the religious affairs ministry to forward the summary regarding the allocation of grant for the worship place to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for advice.
On the opposite hand, the religious affairs ministry clarified its position, stating that it only helped renovate places of worship belonging to spiritual minorities and didn't build new ones.
This message was circulated by the Ministry of spiritual Affairs on social media groups, including twitter.
On Friday, a joint team of the CDA’s enforcement and building control departments reached the location of the temple in H-9/2 and directed workers to prevent constructing the boundary wall.
The Hindu Panchayat Islamabad stopped the work and decided to approach the CDA on Monday to hunt permission for commencing the development.
“We abide by the principles but the construction of a boundary wall was necessary as some people, backed by a couple of seminary students, had found out tents on the plot in 2018, and it took several months for us to urge the place cleared with the assistance of the capital administration,” PTI MNA Lal Chand Malhi said.
Meanwhile, CDA spokesman Mazhar Hussain said the building control laws of the civic authority clearly stated that no activity could happen on a plot until the building plan (map) was approved.
However, a senior officer of CDA’s enforcement department acknowledged that it had been possibly the primary time that this clause had been enforced as all owners were allowed to construct boundary walls and ensure possession of their plot while formalities regarding approval of the map continue. Mr. Malhi, on the opposite hand, said the Panchayat had submitted the building to decide to the Ministry of spiritual Affairs, and therefore the minister, Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, had forwarded it alongside a summary for grant of Rs100 million to the prime minister for construction of the building.
The official system is that if the summary is approved by the prime minister, the building plan is going to be forwarded to the Ministry of Housing and Works and Pak PWD will submit the building decide to the relevant civic body, that's CDA. The finance ministry will then release the approved funds to Pak PWD for the development.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs Mohammad Imran, however, said the summary for the issuance of grant for the development had been forwarded to the prime minister.
“The prime minister will choose the funds for the development of an area of worship for the minority population,” the spokesman said, adding that “the prime minister will decide to take under consideration all social and nonsecular aspects”.
The spokesman also said the govt will seek guidance and advice from the Council of Islamic Ideology over the summary forwarded to the prime minister.
This demand was made on Dominion Day by clerics belonging to the JUI-F, Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith, and people affiliated with Lal Masjid and other seminaries of the capital.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of spiritual Affairs, while replying to the objections raised by the clerics, clarified that the plot for the temple was allotted by CDA in 2017 on the directions of the National Commission for Human Rights and not the religious affairs ministry.
Responding to a different allegation made by the clerics in their news conference on Thursday that the ministry was releasing funds for the temple’s construction, the spokesman clarified that “the ministry doesn't release funds for the construction of minority places of worship; the Ministry of spiritual Affairs repairs and renovates the places of worship belonging to the religious minorities.”
In the same statement, the ministry said the Hindu community was building the temple with its own resources on the plot allotted to them.
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