The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Wednesday sought Council of Islamic Ideology’s (CII) advise on issuance of funds for construction of temple in the federal capital.
In a letter written to CII, the ministry asked “Whether government funds could be used for the construction of new worship place for minorities or otherwise”.
The letter says that Capital Development Authority (CDA) had allotted a four kanal plot for construction of a Hindu temple in Sector H-9/2, Islamabad on Dec 26, 2017.
On Dec 10, 2019 the Ministry of Religious Affairs had received an application from Islamabad Hindu Panchiyat to fund the construction of new temple.
Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi and some minority legislators also requested the ministry to allocate funds for construction of temple.
Ministry distributes funds for repair and maintenance of worship places from its Minority Welfare Fund on recommendation of minority legislators. But the construction of new worship places for minorities was not permissible under the rules. Due to non provision in rules for new construction, the application was forwarded to Prime Minister’s office for consideration.
The advice of CII is being sought on the objection of ulema and religious scholars that the new temple can’t be built with public money.
Meanwhile, chairman CII Dr Kibla Ayaz directed CII’s research wing to finalise its recommendations after deliberations. The session of CII will be summoned in September for giving opinion on the issue.
Chairman asked ulema, religious scholars to forward their arguments to CII instead of mere criticising.