KARACHI: Reacting to the terrifying attack on a church in
Quetta, the Sindh government on Sunday raised the security bar to
protect worship places belonging to religious minorities across the
province.
Provincial home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal
asked law enforcement agencies to tighten security arrangements in and
around the worship places and other places of religious significance for
the non-Muslims against any possible threat.
Officials said the minister also asked for increasing security for mosques, shrines, Imambargahs etc.
“Those
who are adamant to destroy peace in the country are ulcerous and the
entire nation is united against their nefarious designs,” said the
minister.
Officials said the worship places of the
minorities were already being protected — though, with limited resources
— yet the government’s order to raise the bar might have a little
impact on the existing arrangement.
“Police guards and
other law enforcement agencies have been posted with the limited
manpower and strength in the province. It requires more funds and
manpower to raise the bar,” said a senior official in the home ministry.
Nation is united against those adamant to destroy peace in country, says minister
Officials said a project costing Rs400 million was being
launched to make safe temples, churches and other places of worship
across the province.
They said the ambitious project
would chiefly invest in the purchase of surveillance cameras, planned to
be installed in and outside more than 1,200 places of worship across
Sindh.
The provincial government has initiated a project
in which security surveillance cameras would be installed at temples,
churches and gurdwaras.
“This project will greatly
enhance the level of security at places of worship and protect the
rights of minorities,” claimed a senior official.
He
said the project involved establishment of a modern surveillance and
monitoring system at each place of worship using multiple video cameras
installed at strategic locations around it.
Officials
added that the project was planned in line with the directive of the
ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, after a
number of attacks on temples in Larkana, Hyderabad and other districts
of Sindh during the past three years.
After those
attacks, the provincial government deployed security on an average of
less than two police guards per worship place across the province.
The
Sindh Police have prepared a report and sent it to the home ministry
saying that a total of 1,253 worship places belonging to the religious
minorities had been documented in Sindh, which included 703 Hindu
temples and 523 churches. Besides, 21 such places belonged to Ahmadi
community and the remaining six are Sikh gurdwaras.
A total of 2,310 policemen have been deputed to guard all those places.
According
to district-wise break-up of the worship places given in the report,
most of them — 494 to be precise — are situated in Karachi, which
included 387 churches and 107 temples.
Karachi East has
the most churches (200) followed by 116 in Karachi West and 71 in South
district. Most temples (61) are documented in Karachi South, followed by
39 in Karachi East and seven in West district.
Hyderabad has 238 worship places, including 156 temples and 72 churches while 10 belonged to Ahmadi community.
Similarly,
Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas have respectively 50 and 112 temples, 12 and
21 churches and six and five Ahmadi establishments.
Larkana has 141 temples, seven churches and five gurdwaras while Sukkur has 137 temples, 24 churches and one gurdwara.
Officials
said there are 232 policemen deputed to guard 239 churches and temples
in Karachi East — less than one for a worship place. To bridge the gap,
they added, 11 guards have been provided by various NGOs in the
district.
The security cover to 116 churches and seven
temples is much impressive in Karachi West where 364 policemen have been
deployed while NGOs have provided 43 additional guards.
In
Karachi South’s 132 temples and churches, the authorities have provided
213 policemen while NGOs have stuffed them up with 83 additional
guards.
The report also documented five violent attacks
on worship places of religious minorities during the recent past — all
of them against Hindus.
Three temples — Radha Kishan in
Hyderabad, Shanga Bhawani in Makli, Thatta and Hanuman in Tando Mohammad
Khan — and a Dharamsala in Larkana were attacked.
Officials
in the home ministry conceded the deployment of security was generally
disproportionate in districts, particularly in Karachi East, where the
number of policemen was less than the number of worship places they were
supposed to secure.
