India protests desecration of temple in Pakistan’s Punjab province

India and Pakistan often trade charges of attacks on each other’s minorities, reflecting the current downturn in bilateral relations.

India on Thursday summoned the Pakistani charge d’affaires to protest a mob attack on a Hindu temple in Pakistan’s Punjab province and to call for steps to ensure the safety of minorities.

Images and video footage of the desecration of the temple were widely shared on social media platforms by people in both countries. (SCREENGRAB.)

On Wednesday, hundreds of people vandalised the temple at Bhong village in Rahim Yar Khan district and blocked a nearby highway after a nine-year-old Hindu boy, who had been accused of urinating in an Islamic seminary, was granted bail by a local court.

Images and video footage of the desecration of the temple were widely shared on social media platforms by people in both countries. Pakistan’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed took cognisance of the incident on Thursday after parliamentarian Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, met him to discuss the temple attack.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular news briefing that Pakistani charge d’affaires Aftab Hasan Khan was “summoned and a firm protest was lodged, expressing our grave concerns at this reprehensible incident and the continued attacks on the freedom of religion of the minority community and their places of religious worship”.

The Indian side called on Pakistan to “ensure the safety, security and well-being of its minority communities”.

Bagchi said the Indian side had taken note of disturbing reports on social media of the “violent mob attack” on the Ganesha temple in Punjab province.

“The mob attacked the temple, desecrated the holy idols and set fire to the premises. In addition to attacking the temple, the mob also attacked surrounding houses belonging to the Hindu community,” he said.

Bagchi contended that incidents of “violence, discrimination and persecution against the minority communities, including attacks on places of worship, have continued unabated in Pakistan”.

He added, “Within the last year itself, various temples and gurdwaras have been attacked, including the Mata Rani Bhatiyani Mandir in Sindh in January 2020, Gurdwara Sri Janamsthan in January 2020, and a Hindu temple in Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in December 2020.”

These incidents, he said, were occurring at an “alarming rate” while Pakistan’s state and security institutions have “stood by idly and completely failed in preventing” attacks on minorities and their places of worship.

India and Pakistan often trade charges of attacks on each other’s minorities, reflecting the current downturn in bilateral relations.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is set to take up the temple attack on August 6, and the chief justice directed the chief secretary and police chief of Punjab province to appear for the hearing along with a report on the incident.

Following a complaint from a Muslim cleric, police in Bhong village had registered a case under the Pakistan Penal Code on July 25 against a Hindu boy for allegedly urinating in the seminary.

Reports said local Hindu elders had offered an apology to the seminary’s administration and pointed out that boy was a minor and mentally challenged. After a local court granted bail to the boy, unidentified men incited local residents of Bhong to start a protest on Wednesday.

Videos posted on social media platforms showed men with sticks and iron rods smashing the glass doors, windows and lights of the temple and desecration the idols.

Some reports suggested an old dispute between Hindu and Muslim groups in Bhong was the real reason for the violence.