Islamabad, Dec 31: In yet another destruction of Hindu temples in Pakistan, an angry mob led by local clerics burned down a Hindu temple in the Karak district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday.
Video clips are going viral on social media, in which dozens of men are breaking down the temple’s walls and roof and smoke billowing from the temple. The act against Hindu minority community is widely condemned.
Prior to the demolition, a rightwing Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F) rally was held nearby where speakers delivered fiery speeches. After the rally, the charged crowd marched towards the temple, stormed it and set it ablaze.
The demolished temple was constructed at a place where Shri Paramhans Swami Advaitanand Ji Maharaj died in 1919. A temple was built at his samadhi spot. His followers, mostly from southern Sindh province, used to visit the place to pay their respects.
However, the Muslim residents of the area had closed the temple after the Partition in 1947 and were dismantled by some Muslim fanatics in 1997. T In 2015, the Krishna Dwara temple was restored on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is home to an estimated eight million Hindus and the majority of them reside in rural parts of Sindh province.