Islamabad Hindu temple construction stopped as building plan not submitted

Pakistani authorities Sunday stopped the construction of the boundary wall on the plot allotted to the Shri Krishna Mandir in Islamabad’s H/9 sector,

Once constructed, the temple will be the first place of worship for Hindus in the city. A team of Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s building control department visited the temple site and instructed workers to stop working on the boundary wall.

According to CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain, the action was taken because a building plan had not been submitted to the authority. “Any construction taking place in Islamabad, residential or commercial, requires a building plan (map) to be approved.” Following this, Hindu

Panchayat halted the construction and decided to visit the CDA office on Monday to discuss the matter.

“We had already submitted an application addressed to the authority regarding the boundary wall construction on June 19 but got no response,” Hindu Panchayat President Pritam Das said. “The application said that the boundary wall was being built to secure the possession of the plot,” he said, adding that it did not make sense for the authority to take this step. The H/9 plot has been in the panchayat’s possession since 2018.

Ruling Pakistan Tehrike-Insaf (PTI) legislator Lal Chand Malhi said that a building plan for the temple had already been submitted to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which has forwarded it to the Prime Minister’s Office.