Peshawar, Dec 31: Over 30 people, mostly members of a radical Islamist party, were arrested after a Hindu temple was vandalised and set on fire by a mob protesting against its expansion work in northwest Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.
The attack on the temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Karak district on Wednesday drew strong condemnation from human rights activists and Hindu community leaders.
On Thursday, the provincial government ordered authorities to reconstruct the damaged temple as it vowed to bring the culprits to justice. The temple was attacked by the mob after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate its decades-old building, according to witnesses.
The mob, led by a local cleric and supporters of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group), demolished the newly constructed work alongside the old structure, they said.
According to local police, they arrested more than 30 people, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Rehmat Salam Khattak, in overnight raids. Over 350 people have been named in the FIR, Provincial Police Chief KPK Sanaullah Abbasi has said. Abbasi said all the sections of law relating to terrorism have been included in the FIR against the accused .The police will ensure protection to worship places of minorities in the province, he added.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday took notice of the attack and ordered the local authorities to appear before the court on January 5. According to a statement by the apex court, Hindu lawmaker and the Pakistan Hindu Council chief Ramesh Kumar Vankwani called on Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed in Karachi to discuss the issue. “The chief justice of Pakistan showed grave concern over the tragic incident and informed the member of parliament that he has already taken cognisance of the issue and has fixed the matter before court on January 5, at Islamabad,” according to the statement.
The court has issued directions to one-man Commission on Minorities Rights, KP chief secretary and KP inspector general of police to visit the site and submit a report on January 4. (PTI)
