Peshawar: Police have arrested ten more people during an overnight raid in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for their involvement in a Hindu temple vandalism incident. With this, the number of accused arrested in this case has increased to 55.
In Terry village of Karak district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some people on Wednesday vandalized and set fire against the expansion work of the temple. More than 350 people are named in the FIR registered in connection with the incident. Other accused whose names are in the FIR are being searched. The temple had the tomb of a Hindu religious leader.
The Hindu community had taken permission from the local authorities to renovate the decades-old building of the temple. The mob, led by some local clerics and supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Party, demolished the old structure as well as new construction work. Human rights activists and minority Hindu community leaders have strongly condemned the attack on the temple.
India has also lodged a protest with Pakistan over the incident of sabotage in the temple and has demanded strict action against the culprits of this incident. Sources said in New Delhi on Friday that a protest has been lodged with Pakistan through diplomatic channels. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Saturday called India’s opposition to the incident of sabotage in the Hindu temple “completely inappropriate”.
