'Serious concerns', India demands investigation into Hindu temple demolition case

New Delhi, January 02: India has conveyed its serious concerns to the Pakistan High Commission at repeated instances of atrocities against the members of the minority community. This comes in after a mob of over more than 100 people vandalised a Hindu temple in Karak district in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

 

 

"Pakistan should investigate the matter and take strict action against those responsible for the vandalisation and demolition of the temple", said the External Affairs Ministry in a statement today. Further, it was also 'impressed' upon the Pakistan Government that this was not the first time that a temple was destroyed in Pakistan and this has been ongoing since 1997.

 

India also has asked for the investigation report to be shared with the External Affairs Ministry. New Delhi reiterated that Islamabad should look after the safety, security and well-being of minority communities in the country including protection of their religious rights and cultural heritage.

 

 

Video clips went viral on social media, in which dozens of men were seen breaking down the temple’s walls and roof and smoke billowing from the temple this Wednesday. 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. 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.

  

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