In 24 Hours, Two Hindu Temples Attacked In Pakistan’s Sindh. Fallout Of Seema Haider’s Hindu Conversion?

In less than 24 hours, two Hindu temples have been demolished or attacked in Pakistan, a country known for institutionalised hatred and marginalisation of its minority Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities.

On Sunday (16 July), a temple in Kashmore area of Sindh province was fired at with rocket launchers, as per Pakistani daily Dawn and other publications.

Police blamed the attack on a gang of dacoits, who allegedly also vandalised near-by houses. There were about eight or nine gunmen, the police told the media.

The Radha Swami Darbar Temple is patronised by Bagri caste group of Sindhi Hindus, reports said. A member of the Bagri community told Dawn that luckily for them, the rocket launchers did not explode. 

Earlier on Saturday (15 July), residents in Soldier Bazaar area of Karachi city woke up to the sight of their temple having been demolished in the wee hours, reports said. The Mari Mata temple is said to be more than a century old and located on Mukhi Chohitram Road near the Bazaar.

Dawn quoted residents that the demolition was carried out when the area was without electricity on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Diggers and bulldozers were called in, with police giving them cover. While the outer wall was spared, the entire interiors were razed to the ground. 

The newspaper quoted a member of the Madrasi Hindu community that manages the temple as saying that they were forced to vacate the premises by two people.

Besides these attacks, about 30 Hindus are held hostage by a gang of dacoits, as per the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The official account of the Commission tweeted on 16 July, “HRCP is alarmed by reports of deteriorating law and order in the districts of Kashmore and Ghotki in Sindh, where some 30 members of the Hindu community — including women and children — have allegedly been held hostage by organised criminal gangs.”

The commission also expressed concern over recent threats issued by criminal gangs in Sindh to Hindus.

“Moreover, we have received disturbing reports that these gangs have threatened to attack the community's sites of worship, using high-grade weapons. The Sindh Home Department must investigate this matter immediately and take steps to protect all vulnerable citizens in these area,” the account said.

The Hindu community had been fearing such attacks ever since dacoits and clerics started issuing threats of “retaliation” by the majority community over a Muslim woman from Sindh’s Jakhrani tribe migrating to India to marry a Hindu man.

Seema Haider, a married woman from Sindh, migrated to India without valid documents in May to live with her boyfriend Sachin in Greater Noida area near Delhi. She came with her four children, all below seven years of age.

Seema has told the media she has converted to Hinduism and married Sachin, and that they came in contact with each other through the online game of PubG. She is being investigated by Indian police for possible links with Pakistan’s intelligence.

Swarajya reported last week that extremists in Pakistan are threatening violence against Hindus in Seema Haider’s native country. If the woman is not ‘returned’ to Pakistan by India, there would be bloodshed against Hindus there, armed extremists said in videos uploaded on social media. 

Controversial ‘pir’ from Pakistan’s Sindh province, Miyan Abdul Haq alias Miyan Mithu, who is heavily involved in conversions of minority Hindus in Sindh to Islam, is among those who have issued the threat.

Yesterday, Hindu lawmakers in Sindh took up the matter in assembly, where Minority Affairs Minister Giyan Chand Israni said that security for Hindu temples had been enhanced in Sindh in the wake of threats and attacks.