Unidentified individuals set fire to a tomb shrine in Khandsa village, Gurgaon, during the early hours of Monday, as confirmed by the police. The shrine’s caretaker, Ghasite Ram, originally from Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, filed a complaint regarding the incident.

Ram reported that upon his departure for his residence in Feroze Gandhi Colony around 8:30 pm on Sunday, the shrine appeared to be in its usual state. However, around 1:30 am, he received a distressing call from a nearby resident, informing him that the shrine had been deliberately set ablaze by unknown culprits. Responding swiftly, Ram rushed to the Sector 37 police station to officially report the incident.

With the assistance of local residents, they managed to control the fire. Nevertheless, upon inspecting the shrine, Ram discovered that the offerings within had been completely consumed by the flames. In his complaint, he revealed that a group of five or six young boys had gathered at the shrine and intentionally ignited the fire.

Ram, who has dutifully served at the shrine for approximately seven years, emphasized that people from various religious backgrounds have expressed their reverence at the shrine in the past. He expressed concern that the incident could inflame sentiments and potentially lead to societal unrest. He advocated for appropriate action to be taken against the culprits. Addressing the media on Monday morning, Ram described the shrine as a decades-old establishment dedicated to a revered peer baba, where villagers of all walks of life come to offer their prayers. He speculated that outsiders might be responsible for the arson.

This incident occurred while Section 144 remained in effect in Gurugram due to communal clashes that transpired in neighboring areas the previous week. The district administration lifted Section 144 on Monday. An FIR has been filed against unidentified individuals for the shrine’s arson, citing violations of sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant), and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy the house).

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A blast at one of Pakistan’s oldest and most popular Sufi shrines killed at least four people and wounded 24 in the eastern city of Lahore today (Wednesday, May 8) police said, as the country marks the fasting month of Ramadan.

Police have said they are still investigating the nature of the blast, which occurred near the entrance gate for female visitors to the 11th-century Data Darbar shrine, one of the largest Sufi shrines in South Asia.

State TV aired footage showing damaged vehicles and emergency personnel at the scene.

The shrine has been targeted previously – a 2010 suicide attack there killed more than 40 people – and is guarded by heavy security.

Sufi worshippers, who follow a mystical strain of Islam, have frequently been the target of bloody attacks in Pakistan by Islamist terrorists – including the Islamic State group – who consider Sufi beliefs and rituals at the graves of Muslim saints as heresy.

Senior police official Muhammad Ashfaq told a press conference that the security personnel at the shrine were targeted, but stressed that the cause of the blast remains under investigation.

Three police officials and a civilian were killed, he added.

The blast may have been ‘a suicide attack’ on a security vehicle, added police official Muhammad Kashif.

Pakistan’s push against extremism was stepped up after the country’s deadliest ever attack, an assault on a school in Peshawar in 2014 that left more than 150 people dead -mostly children.

Since then, security has dramatically improved but terrorists retain the ability to carry out dramatic attacks.

Major urban centres such as Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city and the provincial capital of its wealthiest province, Punjab, are not immune.

An attack in the city in March last year left nine people dead, while a major blast targeting Christians celebrating Easter in a park in 2016 killed more than 70 people.

Critics have long argued the military and government crackdown has not addressed the root causes of extremism in Pakistan, where hardline Muslim groups often target religious minorities.

The Data Darbar complex contains the shrine of Saint Syed Ali bin Osman Al-Hajvery, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh. Originally from Afghanistan, he was one of the most popular Sufi preachers on the subcontinent.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine each spring to mark his death anniversary, while it is also crowded weekly with worshippers listening to qawwali, a traditional form of Islamic devotional music.

(With AFP Inputs)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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