PUBG love triggers RPG attack on Pak temple

KARACHI: Days after dacoits in the Sindh province of Pakistan threatened to attack Hindu temples and community members in retaliation to Seema Haider Jakhrani’s PUBG love story, a Hindu temple was attacked with rocket launchers on Sunday.

This is the second such incident of vandalism of a place of worship belonging to the minority community in less than two days. Seema (30), a Pakistani mother of four, had left the country and entered India to live with Sachin Meena (22), a Hindu man she befriended and fell in love with while playing on online gaming platform PUBG in 2019.

Seema and Sachin live in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida,near Delhi, where he runs a provision store, according to Uttar Pradesh police.

The matter came to light when the couple was arrested for her presence in the country without valid documents, but were released recently. However, it caused a furore back in Pakistan, with dacoits even warn- ing to attack the small temple in Kashmore area of the Sindh province if India failed to send her back to her home country.

The assailants, estimated to be a gang of eight or nine, fired “rocket launchers” at the temple, which was closed during the attack, said Kashmore-Kandhkot SSP Irfan Sammo.

The officer added that the temple opens annually for religious services conducted by the Bagri community. The gang also attacked adjoining homes belonging to members of the minority community who had built the temple.

“The attack happened in the early hours of Sunday. They fired indiscriminately and fled when a police party reached the spot. We are conducting a search operation in the area,” the officer said. Dr Suresh, a member of the Bagri community, said that the “rocket launchers” fired by the dacoits failed to explode, thus saving them any loss of life.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was 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”.

“Moreover, we have received disturbing reports that these gangs have threatened to attack the community’s sites of worship, using high-grade weapons,” the Dawn newspaper quoted the commission as saying. It called on the Sindh Home Department to investigate the matter without delay, the report added.