Pakistan: 150-year-old Temple Managed by Madrasi Hindu Community Razed To Ground, Another Hindu Temple Attacked With Rocket Launchers

In two separate incidents in Sindh province of Pakistan, a 150-year old Hindu temple was razed to ground while another temple was attacked with rocket launchers.

A group of assailants attacked a Hindu temple and adjoining homes belonging to the Hindu community in Sindh’s Kashmore during the early hours of Sunday.

The group fired “rocket launchers” at Hindu, which was closed during the attack. The temple opens annually for religious services conducted by the Bagri community.

According to local police, eight or nine gunmen were involved in the attack. The rocket launchers fired by the attackers failed to explode, resulting in no loss of life.

Bagri community, widely regarded in an indigenous community in Pakistan’s Sindh and Punjab provinces, is referred to as ‘scheduled caste’ in Pakistan’s constitution. They speak Bagri language and practice Hinduism.

Dawn quoted Dr Suresh, a member of the Bagri community, as saying that the rocket launchers fired by the dacoits failed to explode, resulting in no loss of life.

He urged the police to protect the community, saying the incident had left the residents in a state of panic.

The violent attack on the Kashmore temple comes days after dacoits in the Kashmore and Ghotki riverine areas issued threats to attack Hindu places of worship and community members in retaliation to Seema Haider Jakhrani's PUBG love story.

On Friday a night, the 150-year old Mari Mata Temple in Karachi’s Soldier Bazar was razed to the ground by bulldozers in the presence of a heavy contingent of police force.

The temple was demolished after being declared an old and dangerous structure in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh Province.

The temple, which is sprrad over 400-500 square yards, had been the target of land grabbers and developers for years now.

The temple was under the management of the Madrasi Hindu community of Karachi.

A member of the Madrasi Hindu community said that they were facing pressure to vacate by two individuals, namely, Imran Hashmi and Rekha AKA Nagin Bai. There was also reports that the temple being sold off by the two named to another party for an amount of 70 million rupees and the buyers were looking to build a commercial building there.

Ram Nath Mishra Maharaj, the caretaker of the nearby Shri Punch Mukhi Hanuman Mandir, said that the bulldozers left the outer walls and the temple’s main gate intact, but they demolished the entire inside structure.

The community has appealed to the Pakistan-Hindu Council, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Inspector General of Sindh police to address the issue on an urgent basis.

In June 2022, Shri Mari Mata Mandir in Karachi was desecrated by a mob. The violent mob broke into the house of the priest and vandalised it. They even damaged the idol of Shri Mari Mata Mandir that the priest had kept in his house due to renovation work at the temple.

In August 2021, the Ganesh temple in Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan district was vandalised by a mob of over 200 people. In March, a group of unidentified people attacked an over 100-year-old Hindu temple in Rawalpindi.

In December 2020, a mob of over 1,500 Muslims  attacked and set fire to a Hindu temple in a village in Karak district, some 160 kilometres southeast of Peshawar.

Discrimination and violence against religious minorities are commonplace in Pakistan, where Muslims make up 97 per cent of the population and Hindus around two percent.

Temples belonging to the minority Hindu population in Pakistan are often the target of mob violence.