In The Dark: Shrine vandalized

PESHAWAR: A shrine was vandalised by unidentified men in a graveyard in Bazid Khel village, in the jurisdiction of Badhaber police, on Friday night. Police said the miscreants destroyed the boundary wall of Akhun Salak Baba’s shrine and ransacked the offerings inside. “They escaped without inviting attention since the shrine is located on the outskirts of the village,” a police official told The Express Tribune. He added the same shrine was bombed only a year ago.  “No loss of life occurred since the caretakers had already fled,” added the official. He said it was the first time that an incident of this kind has occurred since the start of Operation Khyber-1. There have been numerous incidents in the past when mosques and shrines have been targeted by outlawed outfits. Most of these acts are attributed to the banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) which is against the Sufi school of thought.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2015.