KARACHI, june 28, 2013: Pakistan People’s Party minorities MPA, Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan, during the Sindh Assembly session, sought the government’s help to evacuate Hindu Gymkhana, a historical building of the Hindu community, which is allegedly occupied by the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA).

In his budget speech, Dr Jeewan spoke about land grabbing and how temples and historical buildings belonging to the Hindu community were being illegally occupied by different influential people, institutions and organisations. “The President of Pakistan has also assured us of cooperation but we want to know when the Hindu Gymkhana will be handed back to us. The mafia, in the form of NAPA, has encroached our building. We do not oppose promoting arts and culture but they should seek another alternate place for it,” he said, adding that many other temples had also been encroached but no action was taken against the perpetrators.

He was of the view that some religious extremists had made the lives of minorities miserable. “I am eyewitness of the Rinkle Kumari case who was forced to convert ther religion. More than five hundred masked men, equipped with guns, came in double cabin vehicles and harassed the judges and the Hindu community. Later, the judges refused to take up the case,” he said requesting the assembly to draft a legislation against forced conversion to provide relief to the minorities in Sindh.

Source: The Express Tribune, DT. June 28^th, 2013.