Daily Times

An anti-terrorist court of Bahawalpur has awarded five years imprisonment and Rs0.4 million fine each to 22 culprits involved in the attack on Bhong Temple of Rahim Yar Khan, a private TV channel reported.

In August last year, a mob attacked the lone Hindu temple of Rahim Yar Khan’s Bhong city. The men broke the windows and shouted Allah-o-Akbar as they vandalized the temple. Bhong Police said that around 10 days before the attack, a seminary or madrassa teacher lodged a complaint that a young non-Muslim boy entered the seminary and desecrated it. The police registered a case and arrested the boy. But days later, a court released him on bail.

When he was released, however, a mob protested by shutting the city down and blocking the M5 motorway. Police tried to negotiate with the protestors but failed. It was after this that the protestors attacked the temple. Later on, the Supreme Court also took notice of the incident and ordered that those responsible for the attack should be made to pay for the repairs.

According to the prosecution, the offenders will have to serve additional 11 months of imprisonment if imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine. As many as 84 people were under trial for the attack on Bhong temple case .

Those who have been sentenced include: Shafiq, Sheeraz, Lateef, Farooq, Ghulam Abbas, Dhani Bakhsh, Bakhsha, Abdul Hakeem, Usama, Abubakar, Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Akbar, Khuda Bakhsh, Shahid Hussain, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Jahangir, Nazeer Ahmad, Muhammad Asif, Shah Mir, Ameer Din, Fakhar Abbas, and Matloob Ahmad. As many as 62 accused were acquitted for benefit of the doubt.