Sufi Sajjadanashin Council chairman condemns attack on Hindu family in Pakistan

All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council chairman Syed Nasruddin Chishty Thursday condemned an incident in Pakistan in which a Hindu family was allegedly held hostage and tortured for fetching drinking water from a mosque.Chishty said such acts are unpardonable and against the very essence of Islam.

All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council chairman Syed Nasruddin Chishty Thursday condemned an incident in Pakistan in which a Hindu family was allegedly held hostage and tortured for fetching drinking water from a mosque.

Chishty said such acts are unpardonable and against the very essence of Islam. ''The attack on a Hindu family in Pakistan is highly condemnable and unpardonable. Pakistan calls itself an Islamic country but such cowardly actions of violence in the name of religion is against the very essence of Islam and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad,'' Chisty said in a statement on Thursday. He is also the successor of the present spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah. Chisty's reaction came days after the Hindu family of poor farmers were allegedly held hostage and tortured for fetching drinking water from a mosque in the Punjab province of Pakistan, according to reports on Monday.

Alam Ram Bheel, a resident of Punjab's Rahimyar Khan city, was picking raw cotton along with his other family members, including his wife, in a field.

Bheel said when the family went outside a nearby mosque to fetch drinking water from a tap, some local landlords beat them up, The Dawn newspaper had reported.

When the family was returning home after unloading the picked cotton, the landlords held them hostage at their dera (outhouse) and allegedly tortured them again for ''violating the sanctity'' of the mosque, it reported. ''This incident is an outrageous act and is performed by those individuals who are blinded by communalism and who are the real enemies of Islam,'' Chisty said in his statement. He said the government in Pakistan has failed to take any action against the culprits and has been unable to curb violence against religious minorities.