The Supreme Court on Friday directed Punjab police to immediately arrest culprits who attacked Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan while expressing displeasure over the police for failing to safeguard the temple. A two-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard the suo moto notice case regarding vandalizing the Shree Ganesh temple in Bhong City of Rahim Yar Khan a few days back. According to reports, hundreds of people vandalized the temple in Bhong area of Rahim Yar Khan and blocked the Sukkur-Multan Motorway in a response to grant of bail by the local court to a nine-year-old Hindu boy who allegedly urinated in the mosque. However, the Chairman Pakistan Hindu Council Dr. Ramesh Kumar is of the view that Child urinated in the clothes after he was beaten up in the mosque. Apparently, the situation was exploited by some opportunists in the name of a service to the religion and law was not permitted to take its course. During the hearing of the case, the Chief Secretary Punjab and IG Police Punjab told the court that the AC and ASP were present at the spot and their priority was to protect 70 Hindu homes around the temple. According to both bureaucrats, police have yet not made arrests in the case and are currently preparing to arrest the culprits after three days of the incident. The IGP said that there was a mosque, Imam-bargah and temple in Bhong and the Alam (religious flag) at the Imam-bargah was also burnt for which an FIR was being registered. The IGP informed the court that the cases had been registered and all the accused would be arrested with video evidence. According to details, an eight-year old Hindu boy urinated in the mosque in Bhong City of Rahim yar Khan during last week. The area SHO filed an FIR against the minor, however a local court accepted bail of the Hindu boy, while some provocateurs instigated the residents to take revenge for the incident. The series of the events clearly explained that Mob acted on the call of provocateurs and hundreds of furious protestors took out on the road and smashed the Hindu temple. Senior Police officer admitted that AC and ASP along with a Police party was present at the spot but did not uphold their responsibility. The Apex court ordered the police to arrest the culprits and recover money for the repair and restoration of the temple from the accused. In fact, Pakistan imported extremism and radicalization in its society through Afghanistan Jihad during the 1980s, however present and past governments could not demonstrate collective willingness to curb the trends of extremism in the country.
Unfortunately, political, and religious parties and influential people had been using such public sentiments for political gains over the years. Today, incidents of extremist behavior commonly happen in our mosques, Schools, Colleges and University Campus and Markets in the Country, while no counter extremism measures had been employed by the government so far. Whereas such incidents are not only against the true spirit of Islam but also earn bad reputation for the country at international level.
