Hindu temple statues destroyed in Pakistan

The statues of deities at a Hindu temple in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi have been destroyed, police said on Tuesday (21).

The incident took place at the Narayan Mandir in Karachi's old city of Narainpura on Monday (20) evening.

A man, identified as Muhammad Waleed Shabbir, has been arrested for damaging the statues, senior police officer Sarfaraz Nawaz said.

He was arrested on a complaint of a Hindu man who with his wife was at the temple for prayers when they saw him allegedly damaging the statues with a hammer.

An eye witness said angry Hindus, who were at the temple, caught hold of the miscreant and handed him over to the police.

Hindu residents of the area staged a protest outside the police station, demanding that the government provide security to the community. They also raised slogans, saying they felt insecure in the area after the incident.

The area is mostly inhabited by low-income Hindu families who have been living in Narainpura for decades.

Police and Pakistani Rangers cordoned off the area.

Sindh's minister for minority affairs Gyanchand Israni said a case should be registered.

Another resident said that there were lots of Hindu families in the area and they had never seen such an incident and there had never been any incident of Hindu-Muslim tussle there.

Videos of the broken statues were circulated on social media.

There have been incidents of Hindu temples being vandalised in other parts of the country as well.

The majority of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by extremists.

(PTI)