According to the FIR lodged at the Bani Gala police station, this temple located in Purana Qila area of Rawalpindi in Pakistan was attacked on Sunday evening.
This case has been registered under sections against unlawful submission of Pakistan’s Penal Code with blasphemy and attempt to incite riot.
After the partition, the repair work is going on since March 24 to bring this temple which was closed for the last 74 years to the present condition.
According to the FIR, some encroachments were removed from the front of this historic temple after the repair work started.
‘Temple desecrated’
The FIR says that at 10:30 pm on Sunday when the laborers were not working, 10-15 people entered the temple and damaged the building.
Along with breaking the door of the temple, its stairs were damaged and the temple was also desecrated.
According to the report, after receiving the information, the city police chief arrived at the scene with heavy security force.
According to police sources, since the temple is under repair, it does not offer worship. Nor is there any idol in the temple and there is no religious literature either.
The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Syed Raza Abbas,
assistant security officer of the trust ETPB, who oversees the assets of the minorities.
Demand for temple security
The local administration, after removing the encroachment, had entrusted the temple to the temple for repairs.
In his application, Abbas has asked the administration to take action against the people involved in this case and also to protect the temple.
Hindus celebrated the removal of encroachment and repair work from the temple premises despite the absence of worship. On 25 March, Hindu people also played Holi there.
The encroachers built a cloth market around the temple and opened shops inside the boundary walls of the temple and at the entrance.
The Rawalpindi administration has decided to repair seven small temples within a kilometer radius of Sujan Singh Haveli to make the old area of the city as it was before. This Mata temple of Purana Qila is one of these seven temples.
There are currently around 70 lakhs in Pakistan, while two thousand Hindus live in Rawalpindi.
Recent attacks on temples
In December last year, the tomb of a Hindu saint was attacked in the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In this case, on the instigation of a cleric, some people damaged the tomb and desecrated it.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan took immediate cognizance of the case and ordered that the tomb be repaired within two weeks.
Along with the cleric involved in that incident, more people were also arrested.
Later, the state government announced the formation of a local jirga along with rebuilding the mausoleum.
This institution was entrusted with the task of removing the tension between Hindus and Muslims.
‘Government will protect Hindus’
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that his government is committed to securing the rights of minorities.
In an interview to a Turkish channel earlier this year,
he had said that we have a minority as much a Muslim citizen as Pakistan,
so it is our duty to protect them.
Dr. Ramesh Kumar, the Chief Conservator of the Hindu community,
said after the latest issue came out that equal rights of Hindus are fixed under the Constitution of Pakistan.
According to him, our central and state governments are always ready to protect the rights of Hindus, except sporadic incidents happening against Hindus. In the past, the government has taken tough action in such cases and it will be taken seriously even further.
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