Fearing a backlash from Muslim extremists in the aftermath of the Ayodhya verdict, Hindus in Pakistan have started fleeing to safety.
Hundreds of students and clerics from the Jamia Ashrafia religious seminary in Lahore blocked the Ferozepur highway the other day protesting the verdict. They threatened to “repeat the events of 1992” if the “biased” verdict was not reversed.
After the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, rioters in Lahore had torn down Krishna and another temple at Taxali Gate.
Jagan Nath, a commerce student from the Swat valley who has been living in Lahore for years, said a group of madrassa students blocked his way when he was going to the Krishna temple on Saturday and threatened to kill him. They allegedly warned him that if Babri Masjid was not rebuilt, the Krishna temple would be demolished again.
Another Hindu said she feared for the temple. “A mob demolished our temple in 1992. I fear the same may happen again,” the woman, who runs a garment business, said.
