'PPP stands with all communities': Karachi mayor rejects temple demolition reports

• Local media claimed temple in Soldier Bazaar demolished on Friday.
• Panchayat asked to assist police in ascertaining facts, says mayor.
• Robbers attack Hindu temple in Kashmore; HRCP condemns incident.

After local media reported that a Hindu temple over 150 years old was demolished in Karachi's Soldier Bazaar area, the port city's mayor, Murtaza Wahab, denied the reports.

Sharing two pictures of the mandir — a Hindu temple for worship — on his official Twitter handle, the Karachi mayor wrote: "Have checked. No such demolition of the Mandir has taken place [and] Mandir is still intact."

The old Mari Mata Temple in the port city's Soldier Bazaar area had been demolished in a covert operation on Friday night, local media reported Sunday, adding that residents of the area reported seeing a police mobile there to provide 'cover' to the men operating the machines.

However, Wahab rejected the report and wrote: "Administration has intervened [and] Hindu Panchayat has been asked to assist police in ascertaining the true facts. Will keep everyone posted on this."

He also affirmed that his party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), "stands with people of all communities".

However, attacks on Hindu temples are a very grim reality in Pakistan.

A gang of robbers fired mortar shells at Gulshan Dera Baba Sanwal Shah, the temple of Baghariji minority community, near Ghouspur in district Kashmore, The News reported Monday.

Due to the attack, a portion of the compound wall was damaged. However, the mortars did not explode.

The robbers also fired at the houses of Ramdas Baghwano Das, Revari Kumar and others.

Kashmore-Kandhkot SSP Irfan Samo reached the spot and got a briefing about the attack.

Bhagwan Das and others said there was an annual gathering of the community in Dera Baba Sanwal Shah. They told the SSP that the target of the attack was their gathering.

They added that people panicked due to mortar fire and firing, and women and children fled from the temple.

Reacting to this news, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan took to its official Twitter handle and condemned the incident.

"HRCP is alarmed by reports of deteriorating law and order in the districts of Kashmore and Ghotki in Sindh, where some 30 members of the Hindu community - including women and children - have allegedly been held hostage by organised criminal gangs," the HRCP tweeted.

"Moreover, we have received disturbing reports that these gangs have threatened to attack the community's sites of worship, using high-grade weapons."

"The Sindh Home Department must investigate this matter immediately and take steps to protect all vulnerable citizens in these areas," the HRCP urged in its tweet.