Pakistan has rejected India’s allegation that a century-old Hindu temple in Punjab province was vandalized, maintaining that the structure was damaged by torrential rainfall and that authorities are taking steps to restore it.
The dispute concerns a Hindu temple in Siraj village in Narowal district, about 130 kilometres from Lahore, which was destroyed last month.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned what it described as the destruction of the historic temple and called on Pakistan to investigate the incident and restore the place of worship.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected those allegations as “false and politically motivated.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said the temple was damaged on July 21 following torrential rains and that local authorities had already assessed the damage.
“The local authorities have already surveyed the rain damage and initiated steps for the restoration of the building,” Khan said.
Pakistan also accused New Delhi of misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding the temple’s destruction and countered by criticizing India’s record on the treatment of religious minorities and their places of worship.
The Punjab provincial government has supported the account that heavy rainfall caused the damage and said it is committed to restoring the temple.
The structure is believed to have been more than a century old. Iftikhar Rana, an official with Pakistan’s Evacuee Trust Property Board, previously estimated that the temple was between 100 and 125 years old.
The board oversees properties abandoned by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India following the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
Minority group disputes government’s account
Pakistan’s explanation, however, has also been challenged by a minority-rights organization within the country.
The Pakistan Masiha Millat Party alleges that a group deliberately demolished the temple and removed bricks, metal fittings and other materials from the property.
The organization claims the demolition was intended to make way for the expansion of an adjoining Islamic seminary.
It has called for the temple to be reconstructed and urged authorities to provide stronger protections for Hindu, Sikh and Christian places of worship.
The competing accounts have added another point of contention to the historically strained relationship between India and Pakistan.
The nuclear-armed neighbours have long been divided by territorial disputes, accusations of militancy and periodic military confrontations. The treatment of religious minorities and their places of worship has also repeatedly become a source of diplomatic tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Pakistani authorities maintain that the Narowal temple was damaged by severe weather and say restoration efforts are underway, while India and the Pakistani minority-rights group continue to challenge the official explanation.
