Hindu Temple in Pakistan to Come Alive after 59 Years

February 3, 2007

Source: EarthTimes.org/Indo Asian News Service

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/26832.html

Lahore, Feb 3-- Katas Raj, the ancient temple complex in Pakistan that finds mention in Hindu and Sikh scriptures, will reverberate to 'bhajans' (devotional songs) for the first time since partition of the subcontinent 59 years ago.

A three-day festival, Jigrattan, beginning Feb 14, is being organized in consultation with India after former deputy prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani visited the shrine in June 2005.

Katas Raj temple, located on a hill six km from Choa Saidan Shah in Chakwal district near here, is being readied for the occasion and part of the restored complex will be thrown open to public.

A spin-off from the effort is that techniques developed in India will be applied for conservation and restoration work of monuments and artefacts in Pakistan.

India has for long been the South Asian centre for UNESCO and collaborates with the International Council of Museums. It has also been involved in restoring the Cambodian Angkor Vat and the Buddha statues in Bamiyan in Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the then Taliban regime in April 2001.