Mari Mata temple being demolished in Karachi, Pakistan, on July 14. (Image: PTI)
Police said the small temple belongs to the Bagri community of Sindh province and was to open for an annual religious ceremony
A Hindu temple was attacked with rocket launchers in Pakistan’s Southern Sindh province, a day after one was demolished to make way for a mall in Karachi. Police said a gang of dacoits is responsible for the latest incident, which took place on Sunday.
According to police, the incident took place in Kashmore area of Sindh. Attackers used rocket launchers to fire at the structure, which alerted local police. The temple belongs to the Bagri community of Sindh and was to open for a religious ceremony, police said.
Senior police officials said the assailants attacked the small temple and adjoining homes belonging to Hindus. According to a report by news agency PTI, Dr Suresh, a member of the Bagri community, said the “rocket launchers” fired failed to explode, resulting in no loss of life. He called on the police to protect the community, saying the incident had left the residents in a state of panic.
Police gave their assurance to the Hindu community that they will be protected. The Kashmore area has a sizeable Hindu population, as per the PTI report.
CNN-News18 earlier reported that a temple was demolished in Karachi on Saturday and the land sold to mall developers for Rs 7 crore. Pakistan’s largest city and capital of Sindh province is home to the majority of the Hindu population in the country. It is also home to many ancient Hindu temples. Hindus living in this province share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents.
Gangs in the Kashmore and Ghotki riverine areas recently threatened to attack Hindu places of worship and community members in retaliation to Seema Haider’s PUBG love story. A Pakistani mother of four, Seema left her country and entered India to live with a Hindu man she fell in love with while playing the online game in 2019.
Seema and Sachin Meena live in Greater Noida, where he runs a provision store. While Seema was arrested on July 4 for illegally entering India with her four children, Sachin was put behind bars for sheltering them. They were released from jail recently.
The PTI report stated that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said it was alarmed by “deteriorating law and order in the districts of Kashmore and Ghotki in Sindh, where some 30 members of the Hindu community — including women and children — have allegedly been held hostage by organised criminal gangs”.
“Moreover, we have received disturbing reports that these gangs have threatened to attack the community’s sites of worship, using high-grade weapons,” the Dawn newspaper quoted the commission as saying.
