Arson attack: One-room temple in Tando Muhammad Khan set on fire

Local leaders say they will pay for the temple's reconstruction

HYDERABAD: A one-room temple for Hindu peasants was set on fire in Tando Muhammad Khan district on Friday.

"The caretaker left around midnight on Thursday," narrated Dr Girdarilal Mirchomal, a representative of the community. "When he and others came back the next morning they found the deity's idol, the religious books and portrayals burnt." He said.

The idols of Krishan, Ram and Shiv, which are placed there during special rituals, were not in the temple when it was attacked, he said, adding that the caretaker, Baola, kept them at his residence. The place, which is an elevated platform of the size of a room covered with thatched straw, is located near the Fuleli Canal in Mir Aijaz Talpur's farms behind the Barrage Colony. It belongs to the Kolhi community.



According to SSP Naseem Ara Panhwar, the police have been informed that four unidentified persons riding two motorcycles set the place aflame and escaped. An FIR on the complaint of Babu Ram has also been lodged against four unknown arsonists.

Still, both the police and the community could not find an explanation for the attack. "We have provided security personnel to all the temples. But this one can be defined as an informal place and not a temple in the right sense of the word," said SSP Panhwar. She claimed that the police had told the temple's caretaker to build a boundary wall around the place to restrict access but their advice was not heeded.

Mohan Lal, a nephew of the minority affairs minister Gyanchand Esrani, said there is a boundary wall and a gate as well but the wall is only around three-feet tall.

Following the incident, MPA Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari met the community's representatives and assured them of complete government cooperation. Bukhari and another influential resident, Mir Sajjad Talpur, announced they will pay for the temple's reconstruction.

Meanwhile, activists of several Sindhi nationalist parties expressed solidarity with the community and staged a protest demonstration.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2014.