Hindus in Pakistan who have already paid the fines imposed on 11 Muslim clerics by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for damaging the Karak temple in December 2020 are being pressurized to pay fines of the remaining accused mentioned in the FIR as well, according to a report published in The Express Tribune.
The Hindu community in the Karak district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had already paid the fines for 11 clerics who played a part in the Karak temple attack in December 2020. The fines imposed on the 11 Muslim clerics by the Supreme Court of Pakistan were paid from All Pakistan Hindu Council’s fund which was a ‘goodwill gesture’ to increase interfaith harmony between the Hindu and Muslim community in Karak district. A local resident said, “The Hindu Council decided to pay the fine of Jamait Ulemai-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) district Amir Maulana Mir Zaqeem, former district nazim Karak Rehmat Salam Khattak, Maulana Sharifullah and eight other leaders and Rs268,000 per person have already been paid.”
Notably, the Supreme Court in Pakistan had sought to recover Rs 30.30 million reconstruction charges from all the accused whose names were included in the FIR. As per reports, 123 accused were nominated in the police FIR with the help of video footage of the attack.
Reportedly, the district administration has been putting pressure on all the accused mentioned in the FIR to pay their share of fines having sent them notices on October 26. A Hindu leader said that after the Hindu Council paid the fines of 11 accused, the remaining accused named in the FiR now wanted the Hindus to pay for their share of fines as well. He said, “The amount has already been paid but now all the 123 accused are demanding that their fine should also be paid by the Hindu community which is not possible.”
Karak Temple Attack
Krishna dwara Temple, also known as Karak Temple, located in Karak’s Teri union council of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was attacked by a mob of radical Islamists on December 30, 2020. The mob set fire to the building, then razed it down with hammers and crude weapons. The fanatics were led by a local cleric and supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Fazal ur Rehman group). Video of the attack went viral on social media and showed the mob vandalizing the temple for hours. Allegedly, the temple was demolished in the presence of the district administration officials.
