Pak invites Advani to visit Lahore temple

Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq has invited the party's senior leader LK Advani to visit the city to verify official claims that the shrine was not razed.

Amidst concerns expressed by the BJP leadership over reports of demolition of Lahore's lone temple, Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq has invited the party's senior leader LK Advani to visit the city to verify official claims that the shrine was not razed.

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Haq, son of former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, who visited the Krishna Mandir in Lahore for the second time in the past few weeks told reporters that the temple was not demolished nor its land occupied.

"Advani should visit Lahore and see for himself that it was intact and the Religious Affairs Ministry had spent Rs one million on its renovation," he said adding leaders should act responsibly and refrain from issuing "baseless allegations".

"I will receive Advani at Wagah and he will be my guest during his stay in Lahore," he was quoted as saying by Daily Times.

Haq was in the city to hand over a newly built Sikh crematorium at Babu Sabu near Bund Road to Sikh leaders and to lay the foundation stone of a Hindu crematorium.

Asking Hindu nationalist leaders to stop "spreading propaganda" about Hindu temples being destroyed in Pakistan, he said, "Such allegations could impede the Indo-Pak peace process." He said they should help improve relations with Pakistan.

Later, Haq took Hindu and Sikh leaders and reporters to Krishna temple and met the priest there, the newspaper reported.