Hinduism in Malta

Hinduism is a minor religion in Malta. Hinduism is not recognised as a religion in Malta although Maltese Catholics are in India since 1924. Unlike the rest of EU and the developed world from USA to Australia, Hinduism and religions of Indian origin are labelled as cults in Catholic Malta.[1] There are an estimated 100 Sindhi Hindu families in Malta.[2]

Community life

With recent arrival of skilled, semi skilled and unskilled workers from India, the number of Hindus may now number in their 1000s. Added there are a few Hindus at the Indian built Aurobindo Pharmaceutical Plant in Hal Far and perhaps some others at Malta's Enemalta plant. India's Streamcast Technologies Inc. commenced development of a €75 million data centre in Marsa and a handful Hindus run Misom Labs at the state-of-the-art pharmaceutical testing laboratories in San Gwann. There is religious discrimination in Malta. There are no Hindu temples in Malta and after the British left, the Hindu deceased started to get buried under Catholic burial rites instead of being cremated as required by religions of Indian origin. Under British rule of Malta, cremation took place at the Lazaretto cemetery in Manoel Island. A first floor flat is used as temporary Hindu meeting point that is known as Maltese-Indian Community Centre, with address Sukh Sagar, 25 Triq Bella Vista, San Gwann SGN 2690.[3]

Hindus in Malta privately celebrate Diwali, Holi,[4] Onam,[5] and other Hindu festivals.

Status

Hinduism along with other Indian religions (Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism) and Judaism are unfortunately not recognised in Malta and are treated as cults. In 2010, Hindu and Jewish groups urged Pope Benedict XVI to intervene to ensure that Malta treats all religions equally before the law,[1] but the Pope did not intervene. Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, with Rabbi John Freidrich, a Jewish leader in California and Nevada in the US, said in a statement that he believed the Catholic Church in Malta was not serious about sharing the minority religious viewpoint, and that he was disappointed that they did not want to discuss issues of religious equality with minority religions and denominations.[6] With the arrival of the Indian High Commission to Malta in 2018, the religious discrimination and difficulties of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains in practise of their religion in Malta has been brought to the attention of the Commission.

See also
  •  Hinduism portal
  •  Malta portal

References
  1. "Hindus seek Pope's intervention to bring equality of religions in Malta". Timesofmalta.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  2. "The changing map of world religions".
  3. "Religious Communities To Join If You've Just Moved To Malta". lovinmalta.com. 16 February 2018.
  4. "Malta's Indian community heralds spring with colour". Timesofmalta.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  5. "WATCH: Kerala Indians in Malta celebrate Onam Festival in a big way - TVM News". Tvm.com.mt. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  6. "Pope Disappoints members of the Hindu and Jewish Community - ChakraNews.com". chakranews.com. 19 February 2010.


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