Hindu temple vandalised in Pak, PM Imran Khan orders swift action
Islamabad/Karachi, Feb 7: A Hindu temple was vandalised in Pakistan's Sindh province by miscreants who set the holy books and idols on fire, drawing a strong reaction from Prime Minister Imran Khan who ordered swift and decisive action against the perpetrators.
The incident happened last week in Kumb, a town in Khairpur district. The unidentified assailants fled the after vandalism.
Khan Tuesday night took to Twitter to call upon the provincial authorities to take swift action against the culprits.
"The govt of Sindh must take swift and decisive action against the perpetrators. This is against the teachings of the Quran," Khan said.
The community has approached the police to register a case against unidentified persons.
There was no caretaker at the temple because the community felt that it was safe enough, since it was surrounded by their houses.
After the incident, the Hindus in the area held a protest in the city, Samaa TV reported.
Rajesh Kumar Hardasani, the adviser of the Pakistan Hindu Council, has demanded the formation of a special task force for the security of Hindu temples.
"This action has caused unrest among the Hindu community. These types of attacks are done in an attempt to disturb religious harmony across the country," he said.
Police said that they were hunting for the attackers but so far no arrest was made. Nobody or group took responsibility of the attack.
Hindus form almost two per cent of the 220 million population in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Most of the Hindus live in Sindh province.
They often complain of harassment by the extremists.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
