Imrana Komal
Islamabad :Civil Society Organizations have condemned attacks on places of worship and hate speech against minority religions, urging the provincial and federal governments to root out causes of hatred against minorities rather than the culminations. A statement issued by Peter Jacob, Centre for social Justice (CSJ), I A Rehman of Peoples’ Commission for Minorities Rights (PCMR) stated, “We condemn the incidents of incitement of hatred and violence particularly the demolition of Krishna Dawara temple in Karak District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by a mob. Earlier, Shri Paramhans Swami Advaitanand Ji Maharaj, this temple built in tribute to a man famous for his spiritual preaching and service to humanity, was attacked in July 1919. A Hindu temple in Chachro in Tharparkar district was vandalized by unidentified individuals in January, 2019. In February 2019, an attack on Hindu temple was reported in Khairpur, Sindh. In October 2020, a group of extremists attacked a temple in Nagarparkar, Another historic Hindu temple was demolished in Karachi on August 16. Therefore, these attacks, mostly involving land grabbers, form a patron in the country.” A dispute of illegal occupation of Krishna Dwara Mandir in Karak had surfaced several times, the court passed an order in 2015 and the temple was restored on the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan. According to the residents the police failed to intervene and arrived after several hours of the incident.The recent wave of extremism and incidents of attacks on worship places of minorities is in contradiction with the federal Government’s pledge on April 10, 2019, to restore over 400 Hindu temples. The government stated that they are fulfilling the longstanding demand of the minority Hindus that their places of worship be restored to them. Moreover, the ruling party, promised in the election manifesto 2018 stating “We will protect the civil, social and religious rights of minorities; their places of worship, property and institutions as laid down in the Constitution”. Among the huge list of promises, the most important one which still awaits government’s attention is “ensuring equal justice and protecting minorities from violence, hate speech, and discrimination”. While welcoming the suo motu notice taken by Chief Justice of Pakistan, CSOs stated that we also regret recent statement by the Foreign Office spokesperson who rejected the allegations of forced conversions and termed the reported cases of violence against minority woman, factious and politically- motivated which is just another example of denial on the state’s part even after an extensive media coverage, research and reporting of cases.
CSOs urged the government to implement Supreme Court order under 19th June 2014 judgment in order to curb incidence of violence against religious minorities, shrinking the space for religious freedom in the country and depriving them from the rights guaranteed in Articles 20 and 36 of the constitution to profess & practice religion and establish, maintain and manage religious institutions.
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