Ahistoric Hindu temple in Peshawar city of Northwest Pakistan, which was reopened on the orders of a court last year, has been vandalized by unidentified men in the third such attack on the shrine in the past two months. The attackers burnt pictures inside Gorakhnath Temple and took away idols from the shrine located within an archaeological complex in Gor Gathri area yesterday, leaders of the Hindu community said.
The shrine’s custodian told the media that this was he third attack on the temple in the past two months.
Police officers visited the temple to probe the incident. Hindu leaders urged police to put in place better
security measures to prevent such incidents. The temple’s custodian told police that he had seen a group of eight men inside the temple when he arrived there at 6.30 pm. The men started burning pictures and holy books before fleeing with some idols, he said. Footage on television showed burnt papers and utensils lying strewn on
the floor of the temple. The 160-year-old temple was reopened for Hindus last year on the orders of the
Peshawar High Court. It had been closed since Partition. The temple was reopened after Phool Wati, the daughter of the shrine’s cleric, petitioned the High Court. Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari today directed Pakistani authorities to ensure that those responsible for ransacking a Hindu temple in Peshawar are brought to book. Zardari, currently in Chicago to attend a NATO Summit, took “serious note” of news reports about the
vandalisation of the Gorakhnath Temple in Peshawar and sought a report from authorities. He asked authorities in Khybe r-Pakhtunkhwa province to submit a report at the earliest and to take action against the culprits.
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