Pakistan has 75 lakh Hindus who are majorly settled in the Sindh province. But Hindus are harassed and are even abducted and forced to convert to Islam. Recently too, a case of a thirteen year old minor girl was taken away and converted to Islam in Pakistan. Not only that, even the Hindu religious and holy shrines are vandalised.
The Hindu group in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa agreed to pardon the mob that vandalized and burnt down a century-old temple in the province.
Local clerics and members of the Hindu community arranged a meeting to settle the conflict on Saturday.
As per the dialog informally referred to as ‘jirga,’ the accused apologized for the attack and a related incident in 1997. The Muslim clerics have guaranteed the full security of the Hindus and their rights in accordance with the Constitution of the land.
A mediation statement from the meeting will be submitted to the Supreme Court with a view to ensuring the freedom of the accused from jail. On 30 December last year, a mob led by local clerics and militant Islamist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam vandalized the temple and the adjacent samadhi and set it on fire in the Terri village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Karak district.
Speaking to the media after a meeting with local Ulema, Pakistan’s Hindu Council Chairman Ramesh Kumar said the incident had hurt the feelings of Hindus all over the country.
Mr Kumar, who is also Pakistani lawmaker Tehreek-e-Insaf, said KPK Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had chaired the ‘jirga’ proceedings and thanked him for his friendly settlement of the matter.
Mahmood Khan firmly condemned the attack in his speech to jirga members, calling it an attempt to pollute the peaceful atmosphere in the province.
The attack on the temple had drawn strong condemnation from human rights activists and the minority Hindu community leaders, prompting the Supreme Court to order its reconstruction.
Nearly 50 people have been arrested in the case.
Following the incident, India had lodged a strong protest with Pakistan. The Ministry of External Affairs had conveyed its serious concerns to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi over the repeated instances of similar incidents and atrocities against the members of the minority community.
India had also called out the Pakistan government at the United Nations, saying the country’s enforcement agencies stood as “mute spectators” when a historic Hindu temple was attacked.
The Samadhi of Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj is considered sacred by the Hindu community. It was built where he died in 1919 in Teri village of Karak.
The controversy over the samadhi erupted many decades ago.
According to the details submitted to the Supreme Court in 2014, in a case about it, the Hindus had been visiting the shrine till 1997 when it was dismantled by the locals.
The apex court in 2014 ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to restore and reconstruct the Hindu shrine.
Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.
The majority of Pakistan’s Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by the extremists.
