The last week of 2020 ended on a bitter note for the minorities of South Asia. In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a Hindu temple was attacked by a mob and set on fire. Videos of the act resounded on social media, underlining the shaky position of Hindus in the Islamic republic.
At around the same time, videos of mosques under attack in India also started to circulate. In two places in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Madhya Pradesh, mobs surrounded mosques, vandalised them and in one case, used the location to conduct Hindu religious rituals – acts aimed at reiterating the shaky position of Muslims in a purportedly secular republic.
Outrage in Pakistan
However, here is where events start to diverge in the South Asian twins. In Pakistan, there was widespread outrage about the temple attack. Responding to a plea by a Hindu legislator, the Chief Justice of Pakistan took cognisance of the matter the day after the incident. Expressing “grave concern”, the Supreme…