Historical temple set ablaze and razed to the ground by a Islamist mob in Pakistan as Hindus continue to live in fear

A historical Hindu temple and Paramhans Ji Maharaj’s Samadhi has been set ablaze and razed to the ground by a mob of Muslims led by Islamic clerics in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. Situated in the Teri village of Karak district, the historical temple and Paramhans Ji Maharaj’s Samadhi were being restored and expanded according to a supreme court ruling in 2015.

According to a report in Organiser, a Muslim cleric from Karak instigated Muslims against the Hindu community and demolished the temple. In a video that has gone viral on social media, a charged mob is seen setting fire to the temple while another group razes it to the ground. The shrine was earlier destroyed and taken over by a local mufti in 1997.

The police instead of taking measures to stop mob, kept standing as bystanders as the Mandir was burned down and demolished say local witnesses.

Condeming the incident, Human Rights activist Ihtesham Afghan tweeted “A Hindu temple was demolished by religious extremists in Karak today. It is a very shameful moment for us because it reflects the way of how we treat minorities in our country. You can’t run a federation unless and until the rights of minorities are protected. Strongly condemnable!”

Lal Chand Malhi, a member of the National Assembly from Imran Khan’s PTI, called the demolition “an unfortunate incident”. After speaking to the police personals, he said, “The police officials have assured me that they will arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible”. But, till now no one is arrested in connection with the incident.

Discrimination and violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, where Muslims make up 97 percent of the population and Hindus just approximately 2 percent. Earlier this month, the United States placed Pakistan on a list of “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations.

Last year, India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to grant citizenship to the persecuted minorities in the three neighbouring Muslim majority countries viz., Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. With incidents of kidnapping, forced conversions, attacks on Hindu temples and sacred sites on the rise in these countries, many more Hindus and other non-Muslim communities are expected to seek refuge in India.