CDPHR Vehemently Denounces Attacks on Hindu Temples in Pakistan

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 19th July. The Centre for Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights (CDPHR) vehemently denounces the recent incidents of violent hate crimes in Pakistan targeting Hindu minorities, including the demolition of the historic 150-year-old ‘Mari Mata Temple’ in Karachi, and a brutal attack with rocket launchers on another temple in Sindh’s Kashmore.

Reports of widespread violations of religious minority rights and the frequent targeting of places of worship continue to emerge from Pakistan.

Disturbingly, as highlighted by the All-Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement, out of the 428 temples inherited as shared heritage during the Partition, a staggering 408 have been converted into different structures.

In Pakistan, a country with growing Sunni radicalisation, the mere existence of civilizational symbols and structures of minority communities provokes Islamic extremists to violence against religious minorities.

Strongly condemning these violent incidents, Dr. Prerna Malhotra, President, CDPHR said that previously too, violent attacks like the desecration of the Samadhi of Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj in the Karak District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2020, a 100-year-old temple in Rawalpindi in March 2021, and the Ganesh Temple at Bhong in August 2021 clearly establish a systematic pattern of attacks on temples and a culture of ‘intolerance’ towards other religious minorities.

Additionally, the plight of countless minority women and underage girls who are forcibly abducted and converted to Islam every year, often with the complicity of a predatory state and an apathetic judiciary, further underscores the alarming situation faced by religious minorities in present-day Pakistan.

These disgraceful acts of temple desecration have deeply hurt the sentiments of the global Hindu community, while the Hindu minority community within Pakistan lives in constant fear of violence and insecurity.

The CDPHR calls upon the Government of Pakistan to ensure the strictest punishment for the perpetrators responsible for these acts of desecration and to expedite the rebuilding of the temples without delay.

Furthermore, we urge the Indian government to address this matter with the relevant Pakistani authorities through appropriate diplomatic channels, emphasising the urgent need for action.

CDPHR urges the international rights bodies to intervene and protect the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan who live in utmost vulnerable conditions.

The CDPHR remains committed to upholding and promoting democratic values, pluralism, and human rights across the globe. We stand firmly in solidarity with the affected Hindu minority community, supporting their quest for justice and freedom of worship.