ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistanis the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) announced on Friday the rebuilding of a Hindu temple that was vandalized and demolished by a mob earlier this week in the Karak district, which borders the country’s volatile tribal region.
KP Prime Minister Mahmood Khan He stated that the provincial government has issued instructions to the interested authorities to carry out all the preparations for the rebuilding of the temple.
He said police arrested several suspects involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, KP police have appointed more than 350 people to the FIR filed under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The charges brought against the defendants included desecrating a place of worship, wounding religious sentiments, robbery, arson and assault.
According to the FIR, a local cleric, Maulana Mohammad sharif, during a protest rally he ordered the participants, of whom there were more than 1,000, to destroy the shrine. He said that the demolition of a Hindu place of worship on Muslim land was a sacred duty,
The FIR noted that some 400 people led by Maulana sharif he attacked and set fire to the temple. It was also mentioned in the police FIR that an angry mob opened fire on the police and took objects from the temple.
The clergyman who ran the mob has political association with Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazal (JUI-F), right-wing party. He has already been detained by the police.
Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj’s samadhi in Karak is considered sacred by the Hindu community, and Hindu devotees, especially from Sindh, used to visit it frequently.
This is not the first time the sanctuary has been attacked by bigots. In 1997, a group of Muslim fanatics destroyed it. Since its remodel in 2015, it has had police and guards posted outside for fear of safety.
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