KP govt to rebuild Hindu temple
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By News Desk
PESHAWAR: A Hindu temple in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) damaged by a mob last week will be rebuilt using provincial government funds, the provincial information minister said on Friday.
A mob descended on the temple in a remote village of KP after protesting against renovations being made to an adjoining building owned by a Hindu group. They used sledgehammers to knock down walls before setting the building ablaze.
“We regret the damage caused by the attack,” said Kamran Bangash, the provincial information minister. “The chief minister has ordered the reconstruction of the temple and adjoining house,” he told AFP.
Pakistan s top court has ordered authorities to submit a report on the temple s destruction.
Discrimination and violence against religious minorities are common in Pakistan, where Muslims make up 97 per cent of the population and Hindus around two per cent.
The temple, which was destroyed in similar circumstances in 1997 and then rebuilt, is located some 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Peshawar, the provincial capital.
While no Hindus live in the area, devotees often visit the temple and its shrine to pay homage to the Hindu saint Shri Paramhans, who died there before the 1947 partition of India that gave birth to Pakistan.
District police chief Irfanullah Khan told AFP around 45 people had been detained in connection with the incident including a local cleric, Maulana Sharif, who is accused of inciting the mob.
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The temple, which was destroyed in similar circumstances in 1997 and then rebuilt, is located some 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Peshawar, the provincial capital.
A Hindu temple in Pakistan destroyed by a Muslim mob last week will be rebuilt using provincial government funds, its information minister said Friday.
Around 1,500 people descended on the temple in a remote village of northeast Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after protesting against renovations being made to an adjoining building owned by a Hindu group. They used sledgehammers to knock down walls before setting the building ablaze.
To this end, Kamran Bangash, the provincial information minister, said, We regret the damage caused by the attack. The chief minister has ordered the reconstruction of the temple and adjoining house.
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January 1, 2021
KARAK: The police on Thursday arrested 31 people, including a local leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), for attacking and burning the shrine of a Hindu saint in Teri area of Karak district the previous day.
Enraged protesters had attacked and set on fire the Samadhi (shrine) of Shri Paramhans Jee Maharaj on Wednesday as they objected to its expansion.
The police sources said Rehmat Salam Khattak, a leader of Maulana Fazlur Rehman-headed JUI-F, was arrested by the police from his house in Chokara area of Takht-i-Nusrati Tehsil as he had allegedly participated in a meeting before the attack on the shrine. Khattak had joined the JUI-F after quitting the PML-N and unsuccessfully contesting election on its ticket.
The Straits Times
Provincial government in Pakistan will pay to rebuild Hindu temple destroyed by mob
A policeman standing guard at the damaged Hindu temple a day after a mob attacked it, in Karak district, Pakistan, on Dec 31, 2020.PHOTO: AFP
PublishedJan 1, 2021, 5:17 pm SGT
https://str.sg/JRtD
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