The Pakistan Hindu Council on Monday showed dissatisfaction over the decision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint Dr Aamer Ahmed as chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).
In a joint statement issued, President Gopal Khamuani and Secretary General Parshotam Ramani vowed to approach the Supreme Court (SC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if the PM failed to review his decision.
“Imran Khan, no doubt, had emerged as a ray of hope for vulnerable non-Muslim minorities in a Muslim-majority country,” the statement said, adding that performance of the present government was highly disappointing in order to protect rights of minorities. The continuous failure of promises was resulting in decreasing popularity graph of the current government day by day, it said. According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, there were 1,288 Hindu temples, 522 Gurdwaras and worthy Hindu property, which needed urgent attention of the ETPB. “Therefore, this is our genuine demand to appoint a Hindu chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board,” the council said. It said the current decision of appointing the ETPB chairman was also in violation of the Supreme Court directives in the light of the June 19 decision for the protection of minorities’ rights. “This is quite strange for Pakistani Hindu community to see appointment of Muslims and Christians as board members,” the council further said, emphasising that both communities had nothing to do with Hindu properties. During the signing of Liaqat-Nehru pact, leaderships of both the countries agreed to appoint a Muslim head to look after the evacuee property in India and a Hindu head in Pakistan, the council claimed, mentioning that India and Israel used to appoint local Muslim minority nationals to look after evacuee issues.
