Soldier Bazaar temple razed in hurried operation

Alleged encroachment: Soldier Bazaar temple razed in hurried operation

By Rabia Ali

KARACHI: In a hurried operation on Saturday, a builder demolished a century-old temple in Soldier Bazaar while the Sindh High Court was hearing a petition seeking a stay order.

Apart from razing down the pre-partition Shri Rama Pir Mandir, the private builder also demolished three or four houses located next to it. Nearly 40 people became homeless as a result.

“They destroyed our mandir and humiliated our gods,” said an angry Prakash, pointing towards the huge debris of concrete, stones and walls of the temple. The demolishing team did place the statues of four Hindu deities on the side but the residents accused them of taking away their gold jewellery and crowns.

Pointing to the bruises on his arms, Lakshman said that, “they hit me with their guns when I tried to stop them. I told them to kill me instead of destroying our holy place.”

Banwri recalled that the demolition teams arrived around 11 in the morning. She was preparing breakfast when she heard the thundering noise of a bulldozer. She rushed outside, only to receive instructions to bring her bed, cupboard and other essential items outside the house. “I watched my house go down in just minutes and I couldn’t do anything.”

She added that, during the demolition, the area was cordoned off by the police and Rangers with tents put up all around. Outsiders were not allowed to enter, she added.

Jinnahpur & MQM – Stunning Facts by Major (r) Nadeem Dar

The language of the interview is urdu (Hindi).

Courtesy: Geo Tv (Capital Talk with Hamid Mir) → YouTube

Sikhs kept out of their own temple for Shab-e-Barat

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: The Sikh community in Lahore have been prevented from observing a religious celebration at a gurdwara, their musical equipment thrown out and their entry barred, after a religious group persuaded the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) that celebrating the Muslim holy day of Shab-e-Barat was more important than the Sikh religious festival.

Police have been deployed outside the temple to prevent the Sikhs from conducting their religious ceremonies until the end of Shab-e-Barat, which falls on July 18 this year. The Sikh community wanted to commemorate an eighteenth-century saint on July 16.

The Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh, in Naulakha Bazaar, Lahore, is built to honour the memory of a Sikh saint who was executed in 1745 on the orders of the Mughal governor of Punjab, Zakaria Khan. Every July, the Sikh community has held religious ceremonies to commemorate his sacrifice in the service of humanity.

While the temple was taken over by the ETPB after Partition, the Sikh community had been allowed to continue using it with relatively few restrictions. …

Read more → THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE

Triple explosions shake India’s financial hub Mumbai

Mumbai: Explosions shake India’s financial hub

The BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan says the explosions happened in the middle of rush hour. Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India’s commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say. Twenty-one people were killed and 113 injured, said Maharashtra state’s Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan. He called the explosions, during Mumbai’s busy evening rush-hour, “a co-ordinated attack by terrorists”. One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district in the city centre. …

Read more → BBC

Raymond Davis … deja vu

– An excerpt from the Khomeini’s Speech that he delivered after an incident similar to the recent Raymond Davis event took place in Iran in 1964.

– Khomeini’s Speech Excerpts “The Granting of Capitaluatory Rights to the US” – 27 October, 1964

….I cannot express the sorrow I feel in may heart…Iran no longer has any festival to celebrate; they have turned our festival into mourning…They have sold us, they have sold our independence; but still they light up the city and dance…The dignity of the Iranian Army has been trampled underfoot! A law has been put before the Majlis according to which we are to accede to the Vienna Convention, and a provision has been added to it that all American military advisers, together with their families, technical, and administrative officials, and servants – in short, anyone in any way connected to them – are to enjoy legal immunity with respect to any crime they may commit in Iran. If some American’s servant, some American cook, assassinates your marja in the middle of the bazaar, or run over him, the Iranian police do not have the right to apprehend him! Iranian courts do not have the right to judge him! The dossier must be sent to America, so that our master there can decide what is to be done… They have reduced the Iranian people to a level lower than that of the American dog. If someone runs over a dog belonging to an American, he will be persecuted. But if an American cook runs over the Shah, the head of the state, no one will have the right to interfere with him. Why? Because they wanted a loan and American demanded this in return.

Source: Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, p 181-188.

Pakistan: One more mosque blown up by fellow Muslim Talibans murdering atleast 22 namazi Muslims

Ex MNA among 22 killed in Wana suicide attack

WANA: At least 22 people including former MNA Maulana Noor Muhammed were killed and several others injured in an explosion in Wana Bazaar area of South Waziristan Agency (SWA), Geo News reported Monday.

It should be mentioned here that the explosion occurred in a mosque when the people were offering Zuhr Prayer in Maulana Noor Muhammed’s mosque adjacent to a seminary, killing 17 people and injuring 11 others.

The blast was so powerful that it was heard far and wide. According to Geo News correspondent, the blast was suicidal in nature.

The injured have been transported to a nearby hospital. According to hospital sources, three of 35 injured are in critical condition.

Maulana Noor Muhammed, former MNA is also among the deceased. Soon after the incident, the law-enforcers put security cordon around the blast site.

Maulana Noor Muhammed was delivering a sermon at the mosque, when suicide bomber blew him up, causing the immediate death of the former MNA.

Courtesy :- http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/180.htm