Burning of Hindu Temple and Dharmshala   Larkana Larkana (Pakistan) | |
|---|---|
| Location | Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Date | March 15, 2014 |
| Target | Hindu temple |
| Perpetrators | Muslims |
On March 15, 2014, a crowd of Muslims burnt a Hindu temple and a dharmashala in Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan, after unverified allegations of a Hindu youth desecrating a copy of the Quran. [1] [2] [3] [4]
According to police, few people saw burnt pages of Quran in a garbage bin near the home of Hindu man on the night of March 15. While there is another version which details the Hindu as tearing the Koran pages and throwing them down in the street. [1] Immediately, [5] a crowd of 200 had gathered outside the Hindu temple and attacked it. The home of the Hindu youth who was accused of burning the book was surrounded as well, which prompted the security forces to fire warning shots and teargas shells. [6] Police further confirmed that the desecrators were taken into custody and the temple is only partly gutted, [2] whereas the dharmshala was completely burnt down. Shops were then burnt in the bazaar and transport services were suspended. [7]
According to eyewitness accounts, policemen dressed the suspect Hindu in police uniform and whisked him away to safer location [1]
In the southwestern province of Balochistan, police clashed with protesters angry at the blasphemy which resulted in injuries for two protestors and one policeman. [3] [8] In Osta Muhammad, four shops belonging to Hindus were set ablaze. [9]
Curfew was imposed in the Jinnah Bhag and some other parts of the city after mob ran berserk. [6] Police took the Hindu into custody and if he was to be found guilty of burning Quran, he would be punished. Three people have been arrested for vandalism, while member each from Hindu and Muslim community will serve as the observers for investigation. [7]
Local sources report that the alleged blasphemer had recently moved into house rented from Muslim family and had mistakenly burnt the book. As a result of tension related to this blasphemy accusation, Holi celebrations were called off in many locations for security purposes. [4]
While additional contingents of police and rangers were deployed in the affected areas, pillion riding on bike has been banned. [4] [10]
Muslim community leaders asserted that Islam does not allow for violence and claimed it as work of mischievous people. Hindu leaders said that if the suspect is guilty, then he should be punished. [7]
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the Sindh Government to take steps to protect minorities and expressed profound grief on the incident. [7]
Larkana's Hindu Panchyat President Kalpana Devi expressed her shock and sorrow over the incident. "I strongly condemn the desecration of the Holy Quran and demand the accused be punished if he really has committed [blasphemy]". [11]
Freedom of religion in Pakistan is formally guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan for individuals of various religions and religious sects.
Hindus have experienced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, genocides, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of educational centres.
The 2005 Quran desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30, 2005, issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of the Quran. A week later, The New Yorker reported the words of Pakistani politician Imran Khan: "This is what the U.S. is doing—desecrating the Quran." This incident caused upset in parts of the Muslim world.
Quran desecration is the treatment of the Quran in a way that might be considered insulting.
Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Pakistan after Islam. While Hinduism was one of the dominant faiths in the region a few centuries back, today Hindus account for only 2.14% of Pakistan's population or about 4.4 million people according to the 2017 Pakistani census. The Umerkot district has the highest percentage of Hindu residents in the country at 52.2%, while Tharparkar district has the most Hindus in absolute numbers at 714,698.
The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law.
Sectarian violence in Pakistan refers to violence directed against people and places in Pakistan motivated by antagonism toward the target's religious sect. As many as 4,000 Shia are estimated to have been killed in sectarian attacks in Pakistan between 1987 and 2007, and thousands more Shia have been killed by Salafi extremists from 2008 to 2014, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sunni Sufis and Barelvis have also suffered from some sectarian violence, with attacks on religious shrines killing hundreds of worshippers, and some Deobandi leaders assassinated. Pakistan minority religious groups, including Hindus, Ahmadis, and Christians, have "faced unprecedented insecurity and persecution" in at least two recent years, according to Human Rights Watch. One significant aspect of the attacks in Pakistan is that militants often target their victims places of worship during prayers or religious services in order to maximize fatalities and to "emphasize the religious dimensions of their attack".
The Ahmadiyya branch of Islam has been subjected to various forms of religious persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya Muslim movement emerged within the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all of the five pillars and all of the articles of faith required of Muslims. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims.
The 2009 Gojra riots were a series of attacks targeting Christians in Gojra town in Punjab province of Pakistan. These resulted in the deaths of eight Christians including a child.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria operates two court systems. Both systems can punish blasphemy. The Constitution provides a customary (irreligious) system and a system that incorporates Sharia. The customary system prohibits blasphemy by section 204 of Nigeria's Criminal Code.
The 1950 East Pakistan riots took place between Hindus and Muslims in East Pakistan, which resulted in several thousands of Hindus being killed in pogroms.
Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue for the human rights situation in modern-day Pakistan. Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis among other religious minorities often face discrimination and at times are even subjected to violence. In some cases Christian churches and the worshippers themselves have been attacked. Although, there is very little record of this. Khawaja Nazimuddin, the 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, stated: "I do not agree that religion is a private affair of the individual nor do I agree that in an Islamic state every citizen has identical rights, no matter what his caste, creed or faith be".
Rimsha Masih is a Pakistani girl from Islamabad, who was arrested by the Pakistani police on blasphemy charges in August 2012 when she was 14 years old. The alleged charges included desecrating pages of the Quran by burning—a crime punishable by death under Pakistan's blasphemy law. She is a member of Pakistan's Christian minority.
On September 15, 2019, in Ghotki city of Sindh province of Pakistan, a large number of extremist Muslims desecrated three Hindu temples, a private school and attacked shops and houses belonging to the Hindu community over the allegation of blasphemy against the Hindu principal of the Sindh Public School made by a school student. A delegation investigating the attack found that the attacks were pre-planned and had political support.
On December 30, 2020 the Samadhi of Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj, a revered Hindu saint and the Krishna Dwara temple situated in the Teri village in the Karak District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan was attacked and burned, by a mob of 1,500 local Muslims led by a local Islamic cleric. Following the incident, in order to avoid similar attack on worship places of minorities the "Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill" was introduced in the Senate of Pakistan. The bill was ultimately turned down by the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony chaired by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
From 13 to 19 October 2021, Muslim mobs instigated communal violence against Hindu communities across Bangladesh during the Durga Puja festival, in response to a viral video where Quran was kept under a temple idol feet. More than 50 temples and makeshift worship arrangements were vandalized all over Bangladesh
On 28 November 2021, religiously motivated arsonists destroyed a police station in Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
In 2023, instances of Quran-burning occurred in Sweden, which were named collectively by Swedish media as the Korankrisen. The most notable of them occurred on 28 June 2023, when a 37-year-old Iraqi Assyrian refugee Salwan Momika ripped out and set fire to pages of the Quran outside the Stockholm Mosque. This incident caused international protests and condemnation, particularly among the Muslim world. On 20 July, Momika planned another Quran burning in Stockholm, which resulted in protestors storming the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and committing arson.
In the Jaranwala church arsons, 26 Christian churches in Jaranwala, Punjab, Pakistan were burnt down by acts of arson, and homes belonging to Christian families were looted and destroyed by Muslim rioters on August 16, 2023; Bible desecration was committed as well. The attacks were carried out by mobs of Muslims who were enraged by allegations that a Christian man had desecrated the Quran. No deaths were reported. More than a hundred rioters, that included members of the far-right group Tehreek-e-Labbaik, have since been arrested.