New Delhi, June 9 (UNI) India on Thursday said the vandalization of a Hindu temple in Karachi is part of the systemic persecution of minorities in Pakistan and that New Delhi has lodged a protest with Islamabad over the issue.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a media briefing, said they have “noted the vandalization of a Hindu temple in Karachi. We believe it is part of the systemic persecution of minorities there.. We have conveyed our protest to the Government of Pakistan, and urged it to ensure the safety, security and well-being of minorities.”
In yet another incident of vandalism against places of worship of the Hindu community in Pakistan, the deities at the Shri Mari Maata temple in Karachi’s Korangi area came under attack on Wednesday night.
The incident has caused panic and fear among the Hindu community living in Karachi, particularly in Korangi area where police were deployed to avoid any untoward incident.
According to reports, a group of around six individuals on motorcycles came into the temple and escaped after vandalising it.
Temples belonging to the minority Hindu population in Pakistan are often the target of mob violence.
In October last year, a historical temple located at the bank of the Indus River in Kotri was allegedly desecrated by unidentified people.
In August last year, dozens of people vandalised a Hindu temple in the town of Bhong and blocked the Sukkur-Multan Motorway after an eight-year-old Hindu boy, who allegedly urinated in a local seminary, was granted bail by a local court.
The boy, Bhavish Kumar Meghwar, had accidentally entered a seminary in Bhong on July 24. Local cleric Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim berated the eight-year-old boy and reportedly, Meghwar urinated out of fear of the cleric’s anger.
The boy then ran away and hid before the cleric could catch him.
The next day, the cleric went to Bhong’s police station and registered an FIR against the boy. Since the boy was only eight, the FIR was lodged against an unknown person. The police presented Meghwar in court a few days later, where he was granted bail.
Following the court’s decision, a mob of young men gathered and vandalised the Shree Ganesh Hindu temple in the town.
