The place of worship was vandalized and an idol was desecrated. Will the police seriously pursue the matter?
by Marco Respinti
On June 8, five men on motorcycles arrived in the evening at the Korangi Hindu temple in Karachi, Pakistan. They entered, found two workers who were painting the walls, and asked whether the pundit taking care of the temple was around.
When the workers answered in the negative, the men started smashing offering bowls and throwing stones at an idol, breaking it in several places. They threatening the workers that if they would report them to the police, they will come back and punish them, and left.
However, the pundit and the police were called, and a detailed criminal complaint was filed.
Both Korangi Senior Police Superintendent Faisal Bashir and Murtaza Wahhabism Siddiqui, the Karachi Administrator, promised to investigate, look for video footage of the area, and bring the criminals to justice.
Local journalists expressed their outrage. Sectarian attacks against religious minorities are a daily occurrence in Pakistan. They would not continue if the radical Muslims who perpetrate them would not benefit from a certain tolerance by the authorities. Hindus are somewhat skeptical that in this case, as in other ones, promises of action will be followed by facts.
Marco Respinti is an Italian professional journalist, member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), author, translator, and lecturer. He has contributed and contributes to several journals and magazines both in print and online, both in Italy and abroad. Author of books and chapter in books, he has translated and/or edited works by, among others, Edmund Burke, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, Russell Kirk, J.R.R. Tolkien, Régine Pernoud and Gustave Thibon. A Senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal (a non-partisan, non-profit U.S. educational organization based in Mecosta, Michigan), he is also a founding member as well as a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for European Renewal (a non-profit, non-partisan pan-European educational organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands). A member of the Advisory Council of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief, in December 2022, the Universal Peace Federation bestowed on him, among others, the title of Ambassador of Peace. From February 2018 to December 2022, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Family News. He serves as Director-in-Charge of the academic publication The Journal of CESNUR and Bitter Winter: A Magazine on Religious Liberty and Human Rights.
