Pakistan to withdraw cases against 350 persons involved in Hindu temple demolition

The Pakistan government on Tuesday said that it will withdraw cases against 350 people accused of burning down a Hindu temple in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district last year. According to PTI, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has asserted that the Hindu community had 'pardoned' the mob that had demolished the century-old temple last year.

According to the interior department sources, a 'reconciliation meeting' was held in March 2021 between Hindu and Muslim clerics, where both parties agreed to send a letter to the court, requesting the release of all the accused. The government has claimed that the Hindu community in the 'jirga' (traditional assembly of elders) has resolved all the issues that created unrest between the local Muslim and Hindu communities and has decided to pardon the accused in an outside-court settlement. The interior department is said to have written a letter to the Anti-Terrorist Court, informing them of the decision of the jirga as well.

Hindu community raises concerns

Even as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government withdraws the case against the 350 accused in the temple demolition, a local religious scholar stated that Hindus had not been taken into confidence. Haroon Sarab Diyal, a Religious Scholar Hinduism-Minority and Human Rights Activist of the province, said, "We are not against peace and interfaith harmony but the way adopted for withdrawal of cases is quite against the jirga culture of the soil." He also revealed that the construction of a resting area adjacent to the temple was being unnecessarily delayed, and was creating unrest. 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa temple demolition 

On December 30, 2020, a group of riotous mob attacked a century-old Hindu temple in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led by local clerics and members of the radical Ismalist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. The mob vandalized the temple and set it on fire after the local administration gave permission to extend the boundary of the worship place as part of a renovation plan. Local media and several eyewitnesses had reported at the time that the police officers watched in silence as the mob destroyed the temple. 

After the incident gained international coverage, the Pakistan Supreme Court took suo-mottu cognizance of the incident, and at least 350 persons were named in the FIR for setting fire to the temple. 109 people were arrested and 92 police officials were suspended for inaction. However, it is now likely that all will be released and acquitted in the name of the 'pardon'.

(With Agency Inputs)