30 arrested for damaging temple in Pak

Peshawar, December 31

Over 30 persons, mostly members of a radical Islamist party, were arrested after a Hindu temple was vandalised and set on fire by a mob protesting against its expansion work in northwest Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

As many as 350 have been booked. The attack on the temple in Terri village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district on Wednesday drew strong condemnation from human rights activists.

On Thursday, the provincial government ordered authorities to reconstruct the damaged temple as it vowed to bring the culprits to justice.

The temple was attacked by the mob after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate its decades-old building. — PTI