Pakistan daily said, Authorities must apologist to Hindu community

Islamabad: Authorities must apologise to the Hindu community for demolishing a temple in Karachi and hurting their sentiments, a Pakistani daily said on Wednesday.
An editorial in the Dawn said the demolition of a Hindu temple in Karachi’s Garden area on Saturday raises disturbing questions and is “a prime example of the callous attitude that officialdom often has towards this country’s non-Muslim citizens. The authorities need to uncover the facts of the matter, especially regarding ownership, and apologise to the Hindu community for having hurt their sentiments by demolishing the temple.

Community members claim they have been living in the location for over a century. They say they have been harassed to vacate the land. Though an official claims no place of worship was damaged in the `anti-encroachment’ operation, images in the media of Hindu idols surrounded by rubble “makes such denials questionable”.

The daily pointed out that clumsily handled situations such as this only add to the discomfiture of minorities living in this country. As it is, in many instances non-Muslims have hardly been given equal treatment in Pakistan and have been increasingly marginalised with the growth of extremism, it said and added that in such circumstances, disrespecting a non-Muslim place of worship only adds to the alienation.