Attackers of Hindu Temple in Pakistan Charged With Blasphemy
Source
KARACHI, PAKISTAN, September 30, 2012 (The Express Tribune): Based on Section 295-A, a blasphemy case has been registered against Muslim men for damaging a Hindu temple during riots on Ishq-e-Rasool Day.Section 295-A is the lesser known, non Islam-specific clause of the country’s blasphemy law.
After Karachi’s Shri Krishna Bhagwan Mandir was vandalized by a mob, the Gulshan-e-Maymar police registered a case using 295-A (“deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs”), along with other charges of looting, vandalism and theft, against the vandals, nine of which have been accused. SHO Jaffa Baloch said, “For me, every believer is the same. The desecration of a temple meant blasphemy to me, and that’s why we inserted that section.”
Security has been beefed up in the Hindu locality. But six statues of Hindu Gods (each worth more than US $2000) were destroyed and their gold adornments stolen; holy books were stolen and damaged, and Hindus living nearby were robbed and stoned–even though the attackers said their anger was toward “the Americans.”
