Pakistan: Old Jain temple converted into a madrassa after partition.
Multan, Punjab-
An old Jain temple, built in 1885 by Jain Shreshti Seth Roopchandra Nahata in Chowk Bazar, Multan, Punjab, has been converted & used as a madrassa, namely Jamia Hamidia Taalim-ul-Quran, since the migration of majority of Jains to India after 1947 partition. Seth Roopchandra was a Jain trader from Rahim Yar Khan, on business to Multan, when he decided to settle in Multan permanently.
The city of Multan was, once, highly revered by the ancient Indians (Hindus & Jains) for its sanctity. Derived from the Sanskrit term ‘Moolasthana’, it meant the ‘original abode’ and housed numerous Hindu & Jain temples. The region was considered as one of holiest places of Hindus & Jains.
The Jain temple of Seth Roopchandraji still has numerous frescoes, painted in gold and stucco images of different Tirthankars, specially the 23rd Tirthankar, Parshvanath. All of them have been disfigured by Islamist iconoclasts, in their extreme hatred for idolatry.
A survey carried out by All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement revealed that out of 428 Hindu/Jain temples in Pakistan, not more than 20 survive today and even they remain neglected by the Evacuee Trust Property Board which controls them, while the rest had been converted for other uses.
The Islamist radical forces, led by Muslim clergy, in Pakistan have regularly desecrated & destroyed thousands of Hindu/Jain temples, yet no one was held accountable for inciting this violence and harming Pakistan’s minority population. The Hindus, Jains & other religious minorities in Pakistan are unable to preserve or restore their ruined and dilapidated temples, because successive governments in the Islamic country of Pakistan have failed to protect Hindu/Jain temples or to stop the marginalisation of religious minorities in Pakistan; they have also failed to take any substantial security measures and to end state-sponsored discrimination and repression against Hindus and other religious minorities.
Disclaimer: Due to state restrictions in Pakistan, independent follow-ups on such incidents are challenging.
Allah Hu Akbar replaced Namokar Mantra—a centuries-old Jain temple converted into an Islamic Madarsa in Pakistan.pic.twitter.com/uvqL7AUN76
— Pakistan Untold (@pakistan_untold) January 2, 2024
