Pakistan Hindus protest against temple assault
PAKISTANI police arrested at least 24 people in overnight raids yesterday, after a Hindu temple was set on fire and demolished by a mob led by supporters of a radical Islamist party.
Meanwhile, dozens of Hindus rallied in the southern port city of Karachi to demand the rebuilding of their place of worship.
The temple’s destruction in the town of Karak drew condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu community. Local police said they detained at least 24 people, and more raids were under way to arrest individuals who participated or provoked the mob to demolish the temple.
The attack happened after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate the temple. According to witnesses, the mob was led by a local cleric and supporters of Pakistan’s radical Jamiat Ulema-eIslam party.
Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, called the attack on the temple “a conspiracy against sectarian harmony”. He said that attacks on places of worship are not allowed in Islam and “protection of religious freedom of minorities is our religious, constitutional, moral and national responsibility”.
The incident comes a few weeks after the government allowed Hindu residents to build a new temple in Islamabad, on the recommendation of a council of clerics.