HINDU TEMPLE VANDALISED IN PAK, TOP JUDGE ORDERS ARREST OF CULPRITS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday pulled up authorities for failing to stop an attack on a Hindu temple in a remote town in Punjab province and ordered the arrest of the culprits, observing that the incident has tarnished the image of the country abroad.

Chief justice Gulzar Ahmed, who took note of the attack on Thursday, presided over the hearing in Islamabad. The apex court took suo motu notice of the case after patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, Ramesh Kumar, met the chief justice.

Hundreds of people, reportedly carrying sticks, stones and bricks, attacked the temple in Bhong area of Rahimyar Khan district of the province in protest against the release by a court of a nine-year-old Hindu boy, who was arrested for allegedly relieving himself near a seminary.

A police officer said the boy was arrested last week and booked under the blasphemy laws but subsequently released on bail for being a minor. “The situation got out of control after the court granted bail to the boy,” he said.

“What were the administration and the police doing when the temple was attacked?” chief justice Ahmed asked inspector general of police Inam Ghani, who was summoned to appear before the court. The chief justice said that the attack has done serious damage to Pakistan’s reputation globally, Geo News reported.

Ghani later said that the administration’s priority was to protect 70 Hindu homes in the area surrounding the temple.