KARACHI: Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday directed Advocate General (AG), Sindh to submit reply on behalf of the Sindh Government in the petition filed regarding the control and protection of the worship places of Hindus, including Hindu Gymkhana, the case of which will be taken up tomorrow.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani and comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain heard the petition submitted with reference to the suo moto case regarding suicide bomb attack of 22nd September 2013 on the church in Peshawar here at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry.
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Patron of Pakistan Hindu Council had filed a concise statement, stating that the Hindu Community through its own resources and donations built for its social welfare and recreation the Hindu Gymkhana in 1926.
He went on to say that post partition this building was illegally declared evacuee property was over taken by many different institutions and eventually in 2007 found its way into the hands of the National Academy of Performing Arts.
He said the Hindu community is a massively persecuted minority and hate against them is taught even in our national curriculum. He said the only sanctuary left for the Hindus is either in their Temples of worship or in the depths of the Arabian Sea.
The petitioner pleaded that in order to ensure that the poor and persecuted Hindu Community of Karachi and Sindh are not discriminated against them the court should sanction the Hindu Gymkhana Building to be used exclusively for the benefit of Hindus.
The petitioner further submitted that these illegal and unwarranted actions were disputed on many different occasions. However, till the filing of the stated petition no fruitful result was achieved whereby the Hindu Gymkhana could have been used by the numerous Hindu residents of the city of Karachi, he said.
He maintained that the Gymkhana was usurped by the national institutions of Pakistan from time to time and used for activities it was not meant for and this is in violation of Articles 23 and 24 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the petitioner said. The court while directing AG Sindh to submit a reply about the case of Hindu Gymkhana fixed the case for tomorrow.
Meantime, the court granted to police fifteen days to submit a report regarding the murder of the son of a session Judge from Jacobabad and murder attack on son of the another session Judge from Dado.
Earlier, the police submitted they were near to arrest the culprit and should be given fifteen days time. The court was, later, adjourned till tomorrow. The five-member larger bench will take up the Karachi unrest case today.
