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, [1] by a mob of 1,500 local Muslims led by a local Islamic cleric. [2] 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. [3]
The Guru Paramhans Dayal is a revered Hindu saint. In July 1919, he was buried in Teri village of Karak District, where his samadi and the Krishna Dwara Mandir temple were built.[ citation needed ] Following the Partition of India and Pakistan, the temple was closed in 1947. [4] In 1997, the temple was attacked and was demolished. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the restoration of the Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj's Samadhi and Krishna Dwara temple. [1]
As a part of renovation, the temple was planned to expand and the house had been bought. This irked many locals and Islamic party supporters. In December 2020, mob of around 1,500 local Muslims led by a Islamic cleric and supporters of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party attacked the temple and set fire to it. [2] [5] The extremists also posted video of them attacking the temple on social media. [5] Advocate Rohit Kumar, a representative of the Hindu community said that the temple restoration did not exceed the agreed area and that attackers violated the agreement by vandalising the temple. [1]
Pakistan's Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, [4] Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi, [1] Religious affairs minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri [2] condemned the temple attack. The Rimmel Mohydin, Pakistan campaigner at Amnesty International said that the destruction of the temple in an example of the persistent discrimination faced by the beleaguered Hindu community in Pakistan. The president of Pakistan Hindu Council, Gopal Kamuany criticized the local administratives for silently watching the temple desecration. [5]
The Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and tweeted that “I want to warn our people that anyone in Pakistan targeting our non-Muslim citizens or their places of worship will be dealt with strictly.[ citation needed ] Our minorities are equal citizens of this country.” In Karachi, the Hindu community held a protest outside the Supreme Court. [2]
Indian ministry of External Affairs expressed "serious concerns” over the temple attack and asked Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan to take action. [6] Nepali citizens protested outside the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu against the temple desecration. [7]
26 people including the local cleric were arrested. [5] Later 45 more people were arrested. FIR was registered against over 350 people. [8] Eight police officials were suspended. [9] On January 5, 2021, the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered the reconstruction of the vandalised temple. [10]
Following the incident, a new bill "Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill" was introduced in the Senate of Pakistan. However, it was 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. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Krishna Kumari Kolhi walked out of the Senate during the meeting as a form of protest. [3]
The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, religious, and right-wing parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui proposed such an alliance of all the religious parties back in the 1990s.
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.
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, although Pakistan Hindu Council has claimed that there are 8 million Hindus living in Pakistan, making up 4% of the country's population. 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.
Mufti Mehmood was a Pakistani politician and Islamic scholar who was one of the founding members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).
Anti-Hindu sentiment, sometimes also referred to as Hinduphobia, is a negative perception, sentiment or actions against the practitioners of Hinduism. It exists in many contexts in many countries, often due to historical conflict. There is also scholarly debate on what constitutes Hinduphobia in the Western World.
Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari is a former Pakistani politician who served the Federal Minister for Human Rights, from 20 August 2018 to 10 April 2022. She is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan. She has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018, and served as a chief whip for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Previously, she was a member of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2018.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (Fazl) also Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) or simply as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Urdu: جمیعت علماءِ اسلام; lit. 'Assembly of Islamic Clerics'; abbr.JUI (F)) is a Deobandi Sunni political party in Pakistan. Established as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1945, it is the result of a factional split in 1988, F standing for the name of its leader, Fazal-ur-Rehman.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri is a Pakistani politician. He has served as the Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 12 March 2015 and has been the central General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam party since 1995.
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. 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".
The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) is a Muslim umbrella group and organization in Pakistan whose members include Islamic clerics and legal scholars from a range of Islamic traditions. Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi is its current chief. The organization was established initially to support a Christian girl who was charged with blasphemy.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti and Sanaullah Amritsari.
Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani is a Pakistani Deobandi religious cleric and politician who established Rabita Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam the breakway faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) over rifts with (JUI-F) leader Fazal-ur-Rehman. He had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, between 1988 and May 2018. He was the Chairman of the influential Council of Islamic Ideology from 2010 to 2016.
Lal Chand Malhi is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, from August 2018 till January 2023. Previously he was a member of the National Assembly from 2008 to May 2018.
Noor-ul-Haq Qadri is a Pakistani politician who was Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony. He had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till January 2023. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2013.
Mulana Mufti Fazli Ghafoor ; is a Pakistani politician hailing from Torwarsak, Daggar, Buner. who was a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from 2013 to 2018. Ghafoor belong to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). He also served as chairman and member of the different committees
On 19 August 2017, Attaullah Shah, a prominent worker of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), was shot dead by unknown assailants at Bannu Ada, Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. No one claimed responsibility of the assault.
Krishna Kumari Kohli, also known by the nickname Kishoo Bai, is a Pakistani politician who has been the member of the Senate of Pakistan since March 2018. She is the second Hindu woman to hold this position. She is known for her campaigns for women's rights and against bonded labour; and was named as one of the BBC's 100 most influential women in 2018.
Aziz Ur Rahman Hazarvi, was a Pakistani Islamic Scholar, senior leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and founder of Darul Uloom Zakaria in Islamabad. He was the authorized disciple of Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi. His disciples include Muhammad Ilyas Ghuman.
Shri Krishna Mandir, still under construction, is the first Hindu temple to be granted permission to be built in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on 0.5 acre land in the H-9 area of Islamabad Capital Territory. It will be a place of worship for the 3,000 Hindu families living in Islamabad. The temple will be managed by the Pakistan Hindu Panchayat. The construction of the temple is controversial: since the approval the construction was challenged by many Islamic extremists and the construction site has been attacked and vandalised four times.
On 28 November 2021, religiously motivated arsonists destroyed a police station in Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.