ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court on Thursday took notice of Wednesday’s vandalism at a Hindu temple in Bhong village, Rahim Yar Khan, and summoned Punjab’s chief secretary and inspector general police to appear before the court on Friday (today) along with a report on the incident.

The apex court took suo motu notice of the incident after Patron-in-Chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council Dr Ramesh Kumar called on Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed at the Supreme Court to draw his attention to the incident.

Expressing concern over the incident, the CJP took cognisance and fixed the matter before his court in Islamabad on Friday. Dr Kumar was also asked to appear before the court.

The tragic incident also invited the attention of Prime Minister Imran Khan who, in a tweet, condemned the attack on the Ganesh Mandir and said that he had asked the IG of Punjab to ensure arrest of the culprits and take action against any police negligence.

The prime minister also assured the citizens of the Hindu faith that the government would restore the temple.

Ramesh Lal, a PPP lawmaker, said that the 1973 constitution ensured the rights of the minority communities and that the government should guarantee that these rights were exercised by the minority communities without any hindrance or fear.

In a statement, he demanded arrest of the culprits who desecrated the temple and brought shame to the prestige and honour of the country. He said the tragic incident was an attempt to encourage the extremist elements influenced by the philosophy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier, the chief justice had taken notice of vandalising and torching of the Samadhi (shrine) of a Hindu saint in Teri village in Karak district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which was built before 1920. The chief justice had ordered the chief secretary and IG of KP and a one-man commission on minority rights comprising Dr Shoaib Suddle to visit the site and submit a report to the court.

On Dec 30, 2020, more than a thousand people, led by some local elders of a religious party, held a protest, demanded demolition of the shrine and attacked the shrine.

In the recent incident in Bhong, hundreds of people vandalised the temple and blocked Sukkur-Multan motorway (M-5) after a nine-year-old Hindu boy, who had allegedly urinated in a local seminary, was granted bail by a local court.

Bhong police registered a case on the complaint of a cleric, Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim, of Darul Uloom Arabia Taleemul Quran, against the boy under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on July 24.

The case was registered despite the fact that the Hindu elders did tender an apology to the seminary administration saying the accused was a minor and mentally challenged.

However, when a lower court granted bail to the boy a few days ago, some people incited the public in the village on Wednesday and got shops closed in protest.

KP schools

Hearing another suo motu case, the apex court ordered the authorities to make functional within six months schools in different areas of KP, which had been hit by the 2005 massive earthquake.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by the CJP, summoned the chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) to appear before the court after a month to explain why schools were not constructed despite the release of huge funds amounting billions.

The court deplored that education was at the bottom on the priority list of the KP government and despite the lapse of 16 long years, the construction of the schools was not in sight despite apportioning of billions of rupees for that purpose.

Even the schools built in some areas were not functional, deplored the chief justice and compared the pathetic condition of the areas with the palatial official residences of the governor, chief minister and senior officers of the province.

For the last 16 years, the children of the areas were without any schools but the provincial bureaucracy was least bothered, the court lamented, adding the bureaucracy considered wasting of the funds as their birth right.

The chief justice also questioned why the children of Mansehra and Peshawar were facing discrimination.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2021