India has strongly protested the wanton and malicious destruction of Hindu temple by several Islamic fanatics in Pakistan’s Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on December 30. Concerns were conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels.
India has lodged a formal protest with Pakistan via diplomatic channels against vandalisation of a Hindu temple there: Sources
— ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2021
“The matter was taken up officially with the Pakistani side and a strong protest was lodged,” an official of the govt of India said.
Fanatic Islamists raze down the temple in Pakistan
Videos circulating on social media showed several Islamists using hammers to damage the temple walls of the recently constructed Krishna Dwara temple, situated in Karak’s Teri union council. The fanatics who were led by a local cleric and supporters of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group) set fire to the building, then razed it down with hammers and crude weapons. The video which went viral on social media showed how the miscreants surrounded and vandalised the temple for hours.
Notably, the temple was demolished allegedly in the presence of district administration officials.
Reportedly, the temple was built after Guru Shri Paramhans Dayal was laid to rest at the site in July 1919. However, the Muslim residents of the area had closed the temple after the Partition in 1947. In 2015, the Krishna Dwara temple was restored on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Rohit Kumar, an advocate and the Hindu activist said the residents violated the agreement by vandalising the temple. Earlier, Hindus and the Muslims of the village had signed an agreement on December 22 agreeing that the renovation of the temple would not exceed the specified area.
However, the Muslim residents of the area had alleged that that the Hindu community was illegally expanding the temple building. They said the matter was reported to the police too.
According to the Muslims, as police did not take action against the Hindus, they themselves took the law into their hands and demolished the temple.
Hindu community in Pakistan stage a protest against the wanton attack on the Hindu temple
The act against the Hindu minority community was widely condemned by human rights activists based in Pakistan and other parts of the world. A day after the unfortunate incident, the Hindus living in Pakistan staged a protest in Karachi. “This incident would have never happened if the then administration had given exemplary punishment to the miscreants who had earlier made a similar attempt in 1997”, said Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, the patron-in-chief of Pakistan Hindu Council and member of National Assembly.
According to reports, as many as 30 people, mostly members of a radical Islamist party, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Rehmat Salam Khattak, were arrested after the Hindu temple was vandalised and set on fire on Wednesday. Over 350 people have been named in the FIR, Provincial Police Chief KPK Sanaullah Abbasi has said.