Rangers stand guard outside a temple. PHOTO: INP
As the Hindu community reels from profane attacks at their places of worship in Larkana, Badin and Hyderabad, yet another incident in a Tharparkar's ashram has offended them still further.
At Faqir Par Braham's ashram in Deeplo taluka's village Verhijhap, the violators stole a trishul and desecrated parrh (a piece of sacred cloth wrapped around the idol). "Three to four persons entered the ashram and dishonoured the place," alleged
The Hindu community came out on streets in all the towns of Tharparkar district, also staging a sit-in at Mithi's Kashmir chowk. The markets in Deeplo, Islamkot and Chachro towns were shut in protest.
"The Hindu community is being targetted in all parts of Sindh under a conspiracy," said Raja Bhawan of Tharparkar's Hindu panchayat who led the protesters. "We want the government to expose hands behind this."
Tharparkar is known for harmonious coexistence of Hindu and Muslim communities so much so that the latter do not sale meat of cows, which are even rarely sacrificed on Eidul Azha, at the shops.
The new incident comes just two days after a small temple of Hindu deity, Hanuman, was desecrated in Hyderabad, where the police have arrested 12 suspects for interrogation.
The sit-in in Mithi ended after the elected representatives from Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf consoled the community and assured them of action against the violators. "The Sindh government has failed to protect minorities despite series of incidents over the years targetting our community," said the PTI's minority MNA Lal Malhi, who sat among the protesters.
The PPP MNA Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani told reporters that Tharparkar has never witnessed any communal incident in the past and what transpired in Deeplo was a sacrilegious act of theft.
Later, a delegation of Hindu representatives including Hot Chand, Bhawan, former nazim Ghansham Das, Kuldeep Mal Parwani and others met the PPP MNA Faryal Talpur. "We told her that our community will not accept any more attack. We want security and protection as well as exposing the elements who are behind these attacks," Das told The Express Tribune.
Meanwhile, the Tharparkar SSP Muneer Shaikh says the police have arrested four suspects including Wasayo Parho, Jian Parho, Moula Bux and Abdul Sattar. The stolen trishul was also recovered. Wasayo, according to him, is the prime suspect. An FIR has also been lodged at Deeplo police station on the complaint of Seth Jhaman Das.
Meanwhile, the protest against Friday's attack of Hanuman temple continued in Hyderabad for the third day. The provincial minorities minister Gian Chand, who visited the temple on Sunday, said the successive incidents at the Hindu temples are an attempt to fail the Sindh government.
He told that he has written to the acting IG Sindh to provide security at all the places of worship of the minority communities.
"A third force is trying to incite religious disharmony by carrying out such attacks," said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's MNA Krishan Kumar Vakwani, who is also the head of Pakistan Hindu Panchayat. Talking to the media in Hyderabad, Vakwani asked the provincial government to provide security at the temples and churches and also to install CCTV cameras there.
The Sindhi nationalist parties Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Sindh Taraqi Pasand, Sindh United Party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and others have condemned the profanity in Tharparkar.
A shorter version of the article was published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2014.
COMMENTS (54)
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@Shilpa: The answer to your question lies in the comments above. Count the number of comments where the commenter spoke against these acts vs those where the commenter justified these acts. When you do get the answer ,try to chill out and stop jumping to conclusion on each and every Pakistani without having met each and every Pakistani. Personally, I don’t think all Indian men are rapists, if I go by your yardstick, it would suggest otherwise!
AP @ dont invite to Hindu to come india, because I know the situation of those families they went from pakistan to there, they are still facing lot of problems even they can not buy home for residence ,even indian people are not interested to give home on rent. I know there is some problem,which is creating by third party. if there is one attack on temple, than three attacks are done on Mosques...so All minority and majority is requested to protect their religious places, home and and them selves..and plz dnt make religious cases.
If you want a "Land of the Pure" then its obvious that one has to get rid of its "IMPURITIES".
Where are all the self righteous Pakistanis who lose no chance to spew venom on a country as tolerant and pluralistic as India for tolerating the inhumanly violent acts of violence by Muslims within the country with much patience, only to be branded 'mom-secular'?
On a side note......every piece of news about yet another temple destroyed makes me wonder how the poor Hindu souls there have survived for this long....God be on their side; they are surrounded by savages.....may these savages implode and not explode, so no more hamr may come to others around them.
@Lalit and @Water Bottle
A matter of fact and incisive as well, rebutal @amoghvarshaji.ii from both of you.
After partition. The indian muslims lost the right to complain. Similarly the pakistani hindus has no right to complain. It was their decision to stay in their respective countries. Pakistani hindus are foolish that things are going change in the near future. And indian Muslim are naive who wish india to become a Islamic state.
Shame
result of musakarat ,a new govt coming in pakistan...this is just trailer
@PAKISTANI HINDU: Come to India...When the BJP government comes it will be made much easier for you.. God bless.
History as it is taught in Indian school curriculum,being mostly written by left leaning scholars is heavily watered down ,as far as atrocities committed by Islamic rulers in India is concerned.this is mainly done so as to avoid any bad feelings among Hindus and Muslims,who might develop misunderstanding due to a bitter past.However going through the other neutral sources it comes to our notice that Atrocities on Hindus started right from the beginning of Slave dynasty rule in India.Qutbuddin Aibak,who took pleasure in following the orders of his master Ghori to destroy the Vaishnav temple teaching sanskrit,and make the mosque''adhai din ka jhonpara''@Ajmer over its ruins and flattening 27 Hindu and Jain temples to make way for Qutb minar.From Balban to Allauddin Khilzi to Firuz shah Tughlaq to Babur to as late as Aurangzeb Hindus bore the brunt of Islamic rulers who were holding the flag of Islam.it is note-worthy that raiders like Naadirshah,Tamerlane and Ahmadshah Abdali didn't even spare their co-religionists but this doesn't exonerate others..if Hinduism still survived it was not due to those Sultans and Baadshahs,but despite them.Rulers like Akbar who tried to take all communities together were few and far between.a secular Daarashikoh met the end which Governor Salman Taseer saw almost 3 and a half centuries later.seems Pakistan has seamlessly taken over the legacy of Aurangzeb,while shunning that of Daara....Peoples Party, CM Sindh , wat goin' on
@Raj - USA: Excellent comment.
No region is backward without a reason. Do I have to say more ?
The time has come to stand united & face such malicious incidents. This can only be achieved by consistent protest & ward off ourselves without fearing from rogues. We dont have to be cowards as our forefathers & others have maintained that cowardice custom.
@amoghavarsha.ii i hope you are not being sarcastic. if Ghori and Ghazni who plundered and destroyed the Hindu temples and massacred thousands for getting the gold,had a lot of respect for culture and literature and were supposed to be cultured and tolerant(all your words),why not this courtesy is forwarded to those who are doing this noble act today.okay they are not doing it for gold but obviously for some other benefits.why blame those poor souls who might not be as intellectually endowed as Ghori and Ghazni..
@amoghVarsha tippusultan fort is still in bangalore because bangalorians are tolerant not tipu. I have native place in North Kerala where ruins of temple are still there with their carvings to mark their conquest so what exactly are you talking about? Anyway idont judge people by past, current patriot indian Muslims love india have indian culture rooted in them they are not tipus or ghoris of foriegn land but Indians. You can't justify these ruthless kings of past.. The only tolerate leader I know is akbar.
Once the minorities get persecuted,imprisoned for blasphemy or chased out of Pakistan, more minorities wil be create out of nothing to aid futile unproductive time of radicalised unemplyed Pakistani youth. This is becoming a national time pass .
.....criminal behaviour, all in the name of Islam. One begins to wonder as to WHY Islam is being allowed to implode on itself.
@water bottle....tippusultan/Babar/humayun were tolerant. We still have Tippu fort in Bangalore. Ghori and Ghaznavi plundered ..had to desecrate to get to the gold. They were not like the present day muslim fanatatics. Ghori and Ghaznavi were kings/chieftens with lot of respect for culture and literature. Read history with open mind.
Where is Sind government? All the peoples party corrupts are crying loud for the drama of threats to junior zardari while children are dying in Thar and temples desecrated, is this the liberalism junior zardari keeps preaching others?? taunting Punjab government as supporting religious extremists while minorities are suffering like this in wadera fiefdom of sind
My sincerest sympathies with the Hindus. This is all the work of SECTARIAN MULLAHS. These are living creatures with flesh covering bones and permeated by a soul, where it rests. No grey matter. The PPP + APATHY = DESTRUCTION. What is going on is there for all to see. Salams
Since Zunaid (governor of Qasim), work is on.
If it is real justice, these criminals should also be triad under blasphemy law. If you treat a country on the basis that if there is an alleged blashemy for against people of one faith, it is a blasphemy ( and the property and places of other people belonging to that community should be set on fire). But the attack on others faith is just an incident and can not be tried, I am sorry to say, it implies that the country does not belong to minority.
No doubt if the minority is not treated fairly as part of the nation they will continue leaving the country. Please note that even if all the Hindus, Sikhs and Christians leave the country, the next targets will be other (71) sects in Majority community and some incidents are already been reported.
Unfortunately, there is no statements by major leaders of religio political parties ( Like Imran Khan, JI, JUI( F) etc) to condemn these attacks and talk about misuse of law. If they are not issuing any statement against wrong things in their country, they loose any right to speak if, God forbid, any thing happens in any other country.
People look into the history with open eyes.
Don't be blind and don't be pseudos.
Develop a spine and a brain to see the truth and tell it.
This is the culture of Babar, Humayun, Mohammed of Ghori and Mohammed of Ghaznavi.
This is the culture of Tipu Sultan.
The same culture persists today among the Muslims of the subcontinent. The culture of the Ghazis. The one that is praised today in Pakistan as an exemplary culture.
Yes there is a group of tolerant Muslims. But they are in minority and are targeted everyday, like Raza Rumi.
@yousafhaque: It seems that you are unaware of the hundreds of examples of iconoclasm, some sanctioned by religious authorities.
@Minority report:
Because Pakistan was created in the name of hatred towards other communities.
Will I be called a racist, bigot etc if I told the truth?
This is the nature of a lot of Muslims across the globe.
Even in India, wait till Muslims come to majority and see how they unleash the religion of peace on others.
It's about time that the moderate Muslims joined hands with secularists of other religions to crush this terrorism.
it is very sad news, we all are responsible to protect the minority brother and their religious places..I belong from same area where the population is fifty fifty. and they are enjoying life safely , but i dnt know what happened in now a days...some culprits are involve in these incidents so we all will be together to protect each other as a brother...
Well Now minorities should defend themselves in Pakistan, further they are organizing the protest on Monday 31/3/2014 at Karachi press club. So this is the time to stand incite religious disharmony the fact is that we are weak or we are peaceful people that's why we might not be protect ourselves. it is necessary to get rid from these fanatic people who eagerly wants to migration of Hindus from Sindh, I wish others country should support us but unfortunately they are also weak and wretch
ISLAM,as I know does not allow Muslims to indulge in such vandalism.Its all due to a very sad ignorance about the religion of peace
@Minority report: "Why isn’t the population of minorities growing in Pakistan unlike most of the countries?" Actually, the population of minorities is growing in Pakistan. Shias are now considered minority though it was not so when Jinnah, a Shia formed Pakistan. In Pakistan minorities like hindus and christians have been wiped out replaced by shias. These shias are also being killed and wiped out regularly.
every minority prosecuted is out collective shame with no ifs or buts. I wonder what is the "secular" PPP doing? Shooting off tweet after tweet? There is a limit to inaction and incompetence.
It's shameful and even more shameful for the fact that zardari junior keep harping about his liberalism and broad-mindedness and keeps flinging nasty jibes at Punjab and KP but would keep a happy closed eye on dying children and desecrated temples of Thar
Naya Pakistan in the making.
there are fanatics in pakistan who do this... however i salute pakistan's determination to protect minorities as evident from quick arrests made by police............
Don't let anyone who has a mask on enter the premises. Set up the temple with a closed circuit security system and a guard. Remove any valuable items (gold, jewelry) from inside the premises. Islam is an evangelical religion. Evangelism is a manifestation of mala-fide intent and hostility towards the cultural practices and religious belief systems other than those espoused by the evangelizer. An Islamic state would have no sympathy or regards for religions that are non-Islamic. "Islam is a religion of peace" is an oft heard slogan by apologists - this slogan is not an adequate guarantee for the safety and security of non-Muslims. An Islamic state curbs the ability of Non-Muslims to survive and thrive in a society as is their God-given right. As such, any Religious (Non-Secular) state by nature is a gross violator of Fundamental Human Rights.
Very sad incident, PPP needs to work on this as this is too much now for our Hindu brothers. Justice must prevail.
I dont have any pinch of doubt that this is well planned, and well directed conspiracy to create Hindu and Muslim Sindhi rift. The forces who creates sectarian rift, and now the very same forces are all set to create Hindu-Muslim clash. Normally, Sindh has strong Sufi and nationalistic core, thus extremists have failed so far to gain any grounds in Sindh, but powerful lobbies, groups and organizations are destablizing Sindh and hence Pakistan. This vandalism is drama and its producers, directors and actors MUST be exposed and brought to books.
Show of power by Islamic republic of Pakistan.
3 temples in 2 weeks. First of all, I must say I am surprised that there were still 3 temples left in all of Pakistan. I think this is the point at which some sanctimonious Pakistani will refer to a 22 year old incident to paint India as evil.
You guys are really tolerant, and your ideology means nothing but peace.
Sometimes you wonder as to what would give any Pakistani the right to lecture Indians on secularism, human rights and other issues when you have minorities in their very own country targeted in such a brutal and savage manner. From kidnapping of women belonging to minorities to forced conversions to trumped up blasphemy charges and everything else in between. It sure is tough being a non-Muslim in Pakistan.
The one incident involving a 1000 year old unused and dilapidated mosque (Babri) in a remote location of India has been the trump card for all self righteous Pakistanis who often seem to be oblivious to the daily bombings and destruction that temples, gurudwaras and churches seem to be subject to on a daily basis in Pakistan.
There is a famous saying which goes along the lines of " Do not throw stones at people from inside a glass house".
Whabi/Salafi are trying to cleanse Bakistan from its original inhabitants of Sindh. With the TTP allies in power with their support it is not going to get better. We are a proud country with our heroes like Gaznavi who had nothing to do but look temples and desecrate them. This is nothing new we are repeating our history. On one hand we hate Afghans and they hate us equally on the other we don't even have our own native heroes. We name and adore Afghan invaders like Durrani, Abdali and like who have killed more Muslims than any other invader in our history especially in Delhi against Muslim rulers. Yet all our missiles are named after each of these invaders. There is no other country which does not take pride in their own heroes but borrows worst killers as their heroes.