Tension gripped a small village in Pakistan's Sindh province after a mob dug up the grave of a Hindu within 12 hours of his burial, saying he could not be interred in a Muslim cemetery.
Bhuro Bheel, a Dalit Hindu, died in a road accident on Saturday. He was taken to the Civil Hospital in Hyderabad city where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Bheel's family buried his body in Haji Faqeer graveyard in Badin district on Sunday.
A Muslim mob dug up the body and placed it outside the graveyard on the ground that a Hindu could not be buried in a Muslim cemetery, Express Tribune reported today.
Bheel's body remained exposed to the elements for eight hours as his family and relatives found it impossible to remove it, fearing an attack by the hundreds-strong mob, the report said.
A local landlord later provided space for the body to be buried.
Local residents and Bheel's family told the newspaper that no one had ever objected when dozens of Bheel community members were buried in the same graveyard.
Moti Bheel, a doctor, said the community was warned by some youngsters to remove Bhuro Bheel's body. "We informed the police about the matter," he said.
Announcements were made from a local mosque urging Hindus to take away the body and warning that it would be removed on Sunday morning, he said.
Hundreds of Bheel community members and their supporters from Sindhi nationalist parties and civil society groups thronged the local police station to protest.
Sindh Hari Purhyat Council president Punhal Sario said, "Hundreds of Bheel supporters, including Muslims, have reached Pangrio. However the situation is extremely tense."
He accused religious clerics of instigating Muslims by inviting students from madrassas of nearby towns.
