Report in Dawn, January 1st, 2021
LAHORE: After the recent attack on a Hindu temple in Karak, members of civil society have condemned such incidents of religious intolerance.
In a statement issued by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and Peoples Commission for Minorities Rights (PCMR) condemned demolition of Krishna Dawara temple in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by a mob.
The statement written jointly by I.A Rehman of PCMR and Peter Jacob representing CSJ said these attacks even in the past have been mostly because of land grabbers.
A dispute over the ‘illegal occupation of Krishna Dwara Mandir’ in Karak had already surfaced many times, and the court passed an order in 2015 with the temple being restored on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
According to the residents, the police failed to intervene and arrived after several hours of the incident.
Before this there have been other incidents where temples were attacked. In particular 2019 was a terrible year.
“All these attacks and the wave of extremism are in contradiction with the federal government’s pledge on April 10, 2019, to restore over 400 Hindu temples,” said the statement.
“The government stated that they are fulfilling the longstanding demand of the minority Hindus that their places of worship be restored to them. The ruling party has also promised protection for minorities in its election manifesto 2018 saying they would protect their religious rights, and places of workship among several other rights laid down in the Constitution. However the most important promise still awaiting the government’s attention is “ensuring equal justice and protecting minorities from violence, hate speech, and discrimination”.
They urged the government to implement the Supreme Court order of June 19, 2014, by CJP Tasaduq Hussain Jilani, in order to curb incidence of violence against religious minorities.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1598901/civil-society-condemns-incidents-of-religious-intolerance
