Social media users have widely shared photos and videos of a mob of Muslim radicals attacking a Hindu temple in northwest Pakistan that also contains a sacred shrine. They vandalized the building and burned it down. Many condemned the attack Online amidst calls for a full investigation.
Another day, another unfortunate event for us Pakistanis. A Hindu temple destroyed in Karak. This should be condemned on a state level and state should work on the root cause of such elements. We need to enlighten ourselves. Pakistan was meant to be a progressive nation pic.twitter.com/lD2YzTE4e1
— Omer (@resistantallele) December 30, 2020
The anger triggered by the mob attack against the Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj's Samadhi and the Krishna Dwara Mandir in Pakistan has urged the local police to arrest at least 14 people connected to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, in an effort to stop religiously-charged attacks against the Hindu minority in the country.
On Twitter, many Pakistani and Indian users posted photos of the attack, condemning the rising hostility in Pakistan against the Hindu community in the country.
Pakistan arrests 14 people over demolishing of Hindu temple. #pakistan https://t.co/v3Gdep12E8
— Pakistan News (@pakistaninews) December 31, 2020
This is madness. Such madness should invite strong condemnation n sanction. Any madness to counter madness will also be dangerous. Religion is an individual's choice n personal thing.Humanity is commonly applicable to all, so let's learn to bring human rather than human being.
— S.Bairva (@s_bairva) December 31, 2020
Social media users also warned that "if officials don't address the ongoing religious tensions in the country, such attacks could continue and endanger the national stability".
Additionally, Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs called the attack "a conspiracy against sectarian harmony", adding "attacking places of worship that belong to other religions is not allowed in Islam", and pledging to take action as "the protection of minorities' religious freedom is a religious, constitutional, moral, and national responsibility".
Mob vandalizes, burns down shrine of Hindu saint in KP's Karak = the latest incident in Pakistan of the dangers Hindus and Hindu temples and shrines face https://t.co/fkIiMYqLYE. For more, read out latest human rights report on Pakistan here https://t.co/fnGGANRt7M. pic.twitter.com/4osWbxTBHg
— Hindu American Foundation (@HinduAmerican) December 30, 2020
This is PURE JIHAD TERRORISM
— Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) December 31, 2020
Yesterday Islamic terrorists BURNT historic Hindu temple in the Teri village of Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.
and this was lead by local maulvi !@UNHumanRights pic.twitter.com/zobnVHgoxv
Last year, similar attacks impacted a Hindu temple in Karachi, before the arrest of three Muslims who were suspected of orchestrating the attack.
Moreover, legislation that aimed to build a Hindu temple in Islamabad was obstructed last July by MPs from conservative Islamic parties, despite an earlier pledge by the Pakistani president Imran Khan to protect minorities' religious rights and support their rights to practice their faith in their own places of worship. In October 2020, the Council of Islamic Ideology announced approving the construction of the capital's first Hindu temple.
Over the last few years, Pakistan has been accused of deliberately hiding numbers of the country's minority population, especially after its 2017 population census failed to provide details on the number of Pakistanis who are either Hindu, Christian, or Sikh.
