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Centre requests Pak to save 79-year-old temple in Rawalpindi

Even though diplomatic dialogues between New Delhi and Islamabad have been called off after Pakistani high commissioner to India Abdul Basit’s daring meeting with Kashmiri separatists in the national capital recently, the central government has ‘secretly’ requested its counterpart not to demolish a historic Hindu temple in Rawalpindi.

Raising strong objection against Pakistan’s attempt to raze a 79-year-old Valmiki Mandir, also known as Balaknath Temple, the Indian government has requested a concerned Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi to take up the matter with officials in our western neighbour. Sources said the ruling party at the centre came under pressure from various ‘Hindu mahasabhas,’ including RSS and VHP.  Giving in to fringe compulsions, central government orchestrated a silent move, despite suspension of diplomatic talks between the two countries.

‘We have information that they are planning to raze the temple to make way for the educational and housing complex. This place is among very few temples in Pakistan with historic values and sentiments of the Hindus living there. Therefore we have requested the concerned Pakistani bureaucrats to consider our request,’ informed sources said.

Centre has asked the Pakistan government to ensure the protection and preservation of Hindu shrines, as per their commitments undertaken in the bilateral ‘protocol on visits to religious shrines’, which was signed in 1974. ‘As per treaty, it is the obligation of both the countries to ensure important shrines receive proper maintenance,’ sources said.
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