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Dozens arrested for vandalising Hindu temple in Pakistan
The crackdown came even as the country’s chief justice, Gulzar Ahmed, on Thursday took suo motu notice of the attack on the place of worship in Teri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district
Pakistani police have arrested at least two dozen people in overnight raids after a Hindu temple was set on fire and demolished by a mob on Wednesday, according to reports.
The crackdown came even as the country’s chief justice, Gulzar Ahmed, on Thursday took suo motu notice of the attack on the place of worship in Teri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district. The country’s supreme court will hear the case on January 5.
Local police said raids had been carried out overnight, and more raids were underway to arrest those who participated in the vandalism or provoked the mob to demolish the place of worship.
Some 1,500 people had reportedly participated in the attack on the temple.
The chief justice took the step after minority lawmaker Ramesh Kumar briefed him about the temple being set ablaze, during their meeting in Karachi on Thursday.
The Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj’s Samadhi along with the Krishna Dwara Mandir in Teri village was vandalised on Wednesday by an unruly mob. They claimed the temple had encroached on extra land and set it on fire.
Noorul Haq Qadri, Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, called the episode “a conspiracy against sectarian harmony”. He took to Twitter on Thursday, saying the “protection of the religious freedom of minorities is our religious, constitutional, moral and national responsibility”.
Local media quoted advocate Rohit Kumar, a representative of the Hindu community, as saying that the temple hadn’t exceeded the area agreed upon.
Meanwhile, dozens of Hindus reportedly rallied in the city of Karachi to demand the rebuilding of the place of worship in Teri village.
The temple was first attacked and demolished in 1997. After intervention by the supreme court in 2015, the local community had agreed to its reconstruction. Despite the reconstruction, there was a dispute over the land allocated to the temple. This also led to some misunderstanding between the temple supporters and local clerics.
In 1919, Guru Sri Paramhans Dayal was laid to rest at the site and a temple was built there.
