New Delhi: India Wednesday severely condemned the reported demolition of a century-old Hindu temple in Pakistan and called upon the country’s government to conduct a “prompt and transparent investigation” into yet another shocking incident involving the destruction of a place of worship for minority communities in the neighbouring nation.
Responding to media queries, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that New Delhi has noted with deep concern the disturbing reports of the destruction of a historic Hindu temple in village Siraj, Narowal, Pakistan.
“We unequivocally condemn this reprehensible act of vandalism against a century-old minority place of worship. The apparent apathy of authorities and failure to protect this century-old temple is alarming. Such incidents are a stark reminder of the continuing vulnerability of minority communities and the egregious violations of their religious freedoms and places of worship in Pakistan,” said Jaiswal.
“We call upon the Government of Pakistan to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation into this incident and ensure that those responsible are held fully accountable. Furthermore, the Government of Pakistan must take immediate remedial measures to restore the desecrated temple and fulfil its primary obligation to guarantee the safety, security and well-being of all its minority citizens and their cultural heritage,” he added.
The Hindu temple, constructed over 100 years ago, was demolished in Narowal city of Pakistan’s Punjab province recently, sparking massive concerns.
A minority rights group said that the structure was intentionally demolished to make space for the expansion of an adjacent seminary and called for reconstructing the temple in its original form, local media reported Tuesday.
The temple in Siraj village in Narowal city of Punjab was demolished on August 21. The Pakistan Masiha Millat Party (PMMP), which works for the rights of the minorities, said that a group of people demolished the structure, country’s leading daily Dawn reported.
In June, the demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Pakistan’s Farooqabad left portions of the historic shrine in rubble after a local businessman allegedly carried out the work without legal clearance or court order. Authorities acknowledged the demolition only after Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets to protest the incident.
“For the Sikh community of Farooqabad, the night of June 24 was not an abstraction. It was the sound of machinery tearing into a building their grandparents’ grandparents had prayed in — a gurdwara built over a century ago, when the Singh Sabha movement was still reshaping what it meant to be Sikh in a modernising Punjab. By morning, portions of the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib lay in rubble, demolished by a local businessman who never bothered to seek the legal clearance required to touch it. No court order. No warning to the community that has treated this ground as sacred for generations,” a report in Khalsa Vox detailed.
After the gurdwara was demolished, Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets to protest against the incident. According to the report in Khalsa Vox, an official later admitted that the department failed to take notice of the demolition until local Sikhs protested. It added that the Pakistani authorities responded only after a minority community, long burdened by institutional neglect, was forced to stand up and defend its heritage.
