Attack on temple

A Hindu temple in Karak district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was vandalised by a mob on Wednesday, though this is not the first time that a minority place of worship has been attacked in the country. However, those given to vandalising places of worship of other religions are on the lunatic fringe of society. The federal and provincial governments have taken serious notice of the act of vandalism. The government machinery swiftly moved into action and 24 people, including a local cleric, have so far been arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack. The cleric is said to have instigated the mob to attack the temple.

The temple has existed for more than a century. However, when most Hindus of the area migrated to India after the partition, few visited it. In the 1990s, Hindus, who stayed back in their ancestral place, planned to renovate and expand the temple. Religious leaders of the community say the temple had been built at the Samadhi of a saint, Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj, who has large numbers of followers in various parts of the world. Since there is a stream of pilgrims visiting the holy site, need was felt to build new accommodations on the temple premises. Some people took the matter to court. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the minority community. The misguided mob might have been led to violence by rabble-rousers who had their own axe to grind.

But in what must have had a soothing impact on the Hindu brethren, the Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken notice of the incident and fixed a court hearing for January 5. Let’s also hope that a timely action at the official level against the desecration of the temple would have conveyed a message of reassurance to our compatriots – who follow different religions and practise different faiths -- and healed their ruptured sense of belonging. We need to understand that attacks on places of worship of minority religious groups are not allowed in Islam, and protecting their religious freedom is our religious, moral, national and constitutional responsibility, as citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.