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PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN, October 31, 2003: The Peshawar Cantonment Board (PCB) has served a notice on the Hindu minority members to vacate houses occupied by them for 130 years in cantonment areas. The notice, Hindu leader Ram Lal told Daily Times, gave the Kali Bari residents till Friday (October 31, 2003) to vacate around 70 homes and a Hindu temple. However, a meeting between the Hindu community leaders and the board authorities on Thursday gave them one month to discuss the issue after Eid. The PCB has accused the inhabitants of occupying the area “illegally” and encroaching on government land. The notice was a threat that force would be used if the inhabitants did not meet the deadline. Mr Lal denied the CBP charges and said they had valid papers to prove the land was not PCB’s property. “This property is owned by Mahar Chand Khanna. He (Khanna) purchased this property in the 18th century and the temple was built in 1861,” Mr Lal said. “We are worried and do not know where to go if the authorities use force,” Aslam Siraj, a Muslim living in the Hindu-dominated areas, told Daily Times. The inhabitants approached the federal government through minority member of the National Assembly Gayan Singh to take up the matter at top government level. Meanwhile, the authorities in Islamabad have assured the Hindus that justice will be done. (HPI adds: The Daily Times web site which reported this item is not the government-run news service. Still, any reports out of Pakistan on Hindus, good or bad, are rarely possible to verify.)

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