KARACHI: The Pakistan Sikh Council on Tuesday demanded that those involved in the desecration of holy books, including the Guru Granth Sahib,shouldbe chargedunder the blasphemy law.

The demand was made by Pakistan Silch Council patronin-chief Sardar Ramesh Singh during a meeting with Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) chairman Siddique-ul-Farog in which he highlighted the incidents related to vandalism at gurdwaras and the desecration of their holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, in Sindh.

The incidents were largely reported in Ghotki, Daharki, Sanghar, Sukkur and Shikarpur.

Mr Farooq held the meetingwith the heads of the minority communities to discuss security issues related to their places of worship. Majority of the attendees were from the Hindu and Sikh communities.

The Sikh community put forth the demand to safeguard the right of each minority as well as to contain incidents where the holy books were desecrated.

There are 18 gurdwaras in Sindh and apart from these, others gurdwaras have been adjusted within the Hindu temples, which are in large numbers, according to Ramesh Singh.

`There have been rising incidents of desecration only at the gurdwaras that are part of Hindu temples. Our demand is that whosoever wants to keep our holy book in their temples must do so by following the Silchcode of conduct and mythology,` he said.

What prompted the demand for the cases of desecration of holy books under the blasphemy law was a recent incidentthatoccurredonthe8thof Moharram. Around 2am, the Sikh holy bool< kept inside the darbar at the Swami Narayan Mandir `caught fire after shortcircuit near the holy bool< , according to the initial reports of the incident, Singh added.

This is the eighth such incident in the past two years, managing committee member of the Pakistan Hindu Council Sham Lal Laasi said.

In all the eight cases, only one man was arrested in Khairpur, who was declared `mentally ill` by the Hindu community, complained the Sikhs.

The leaders from the Hinducommunity defended themselves by adding that they respect the Sikh holy book as much as their own and blamed a `third element` in driving a wedge between both sides.

A lone woman representing the Sikh community, Nanki Devi, said the issue that needed to be raised was why such incidents were happening one after the other. `Rather than pointing fingers, we should all sit together and speak for the overall situation, because going against each other would further aggravate the situation.

ETPB chairman Farooq gave equal chance to all the members to speak out their differences and from time to time mediated when the arguments got heated.

Some of the issues also pertained to the property allotted for building of religious temples.Among them was one project continuing since last year, where the ETPB, according to the Sikh community, committed to allot the land for a gurdwara in Karachi.

Mr Farooq said that he would unveil the details of the agreement of that project soon. In his remarks in the end, he highlighted the points of agreements between the two groups present during the meeting.

One continuing demand was to protect the religious sites, including temples and gurdwaras. Another was to form a Hindu Prabandhak Committee to discuss issues related to minorities and the upkeep of the temples.

CCTV cameras will be installed in the temples to ascertain the cause of sudden fires and criminal activities inside the temples.