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An interesting development.Pak temple raiders face blasphemy scrutiny
Pakistan's blasphemy laws may be used to punish Muslims suspected of ransacking a Hindu temple, an intriguing twist for a country where harsh laws governing religious insults are primarily used against supposed offences to Islam, not minority faiths.
The blasphemy laws, sections of which carry the death penalty or life imprisonment, have drawn renewed international scrutiny this year after a young Christian girl in Islamabad was alleged to have desecrated the Quran. A Muslim cleric now stands accused of fabricating evidence against the girl, who has been freed on bail and whose mental capacity has been questioned.
Police officer Mohammad Hanif said yesterday the anti-Hindu attack took place September 21. The government had declared that day a national holiday — a "Day of Love for the Prophet" — and called for peaceful demon
strations against an antiIslam film made in the US that has sparked protests throughout the Muslim world. Those rallies took a violent turn in Pakistan, and more than 20 people were killed.
Hanif said dozens of Muslims led by a cleric converged on the outskirts of Karachi in a Hindu neighbourhood. The protesters attacked the Sri Krishna Ram temple, broke religious statues, tore up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and beat up the temple's caretaker, Sindha Maharaj.
"The attackers broke the statues of (Hindu deities) Radha,H anuman, Parvati
and Krishna, and took away the decorative gold ornaments," Maharaj said. "They also stormed my home and snatched the gold jewellery of my family,my daughters." Maharaj and other Hindu leaders turned to the police, who registered a case against the cleric and eight other Muslims. But none of the suspects had been found as of yesterday, police said.
Officials said the case against the attackers was registered under Section 295A of the blasphemy laws.
That section of the law can apply to any religion and carries a fine or up to 10 years imprisonment.
Pakistan's British rulers originally framed blasphemy laws partly to prevent violence between Muslims and Hindus. Muslim-majority Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947, and under the military rule of Gen.
Muhammad Zia ul-Haq the statutes covering blasphemy were toughened in the 1980s.
The Telegraph English epaper: Telegaph Kolkata's online Newspaper
Will it be taken to its logical end?
I wonder if that would be so with the mad fundamentalist roaming free and berserk.