India on Thursday said it had summoned the Pakistan charge d’affaires (CDA) and registered a strong protest over the mob attack on a Ganesh temple in Rahim Yar Khan, a city in Punjab province.

Asked for a response on reports of the mob attack on the temple, external affairs ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said New Delhi had already taken it up with the Pakistani CDA. Pakistan’s mission in India is headed by a CDA after Islamabad decided to withdraw its high commissioner from New Delhi in August 2019 in protest against the Modi government’s decision to change the constitutional and cartographic contours of Jammu & Kashmir.

“The Pakistani CDA was summoned and a firm protest was lodged expressing our grave concerns at this reprehensible incident and the continued attacks on the freedom of religion of the minority community and their places of religious worship; calling upon Pakistan to ensure the safety, security and well-being of its minority communities,’’ Bagchi said.

Detailing the attack including the targeting of surrounding houses belonging to the Hindu community, the spokesman added: “Incidents of violence, discrimination and persecution against the minority communities including attacks on places of worship have continued unabated in Pakistan.

“Within the last year itself, various temples and Gurudwaras have been attacked including the Mata Rani Bhatiyani Mandir in Sindh in January 2020, Gurudwara Sri Janam Sthan in January 2020, a Hindu temple in Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in December 2020. These incidents are occurring at an alarming rate while the state and security institutions in Pakistan have stood by idly and completely failed in preventing these attacks on the minority communities and their places of worship.’’

Pakistan is likely to reciprocate in similar fashion, raking up attacks on minorities in India.

Police said the mob attacked the Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan, some 590km from Lahore, on Wednesday in reaction to an alleged desecration of a madarsa by a minor Hindu boy.

The eight-year-old Hindu boy last week had allegedly urinated in the madarsa library , resulting tensions in Bhong where Muslims and Hindus have been living peacefully for decades.

A police officer said the boy was arrested last week and booked under blasphemy laws but subsequently released on bail for being a minor.

“The attackers were carrying sticks, stones and bricks. They smashed the deities while raising religious slogans,” district police officer Asad Sarfraz said.

He said a part of the temple was also burnt down.

Sarfraz said the law enforcement agencies have controlled the situation and managed to disperse the mob. “Rangers have been called and deployed around the Hindu temple,” he said.

On Wednesday, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf parliamentarian Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani posted videos of the temple attack on his Twitter page, requesting law enforcement agencies to rush to the spot to stop its “burning and vandalising”.

Vankwani met Chief Justice Ahmed on Thursday and informed him about the attack on the temple. Ahmed “showed grave concern over the tragic incident”, said an apex court statement.