Unidentified persons hurled stones at a Gurudwara in Kuala Lumpur, damaging a front window of the building, adding to religious tensions over a series of attacks on churches in this Muslim-majority country.
The police on Wednesday termed the incident as the handiwork of 'naughty youngsters' and said they are looking into the matter. Several volunteers were inside the Gurudwara when stones were thrown at approximately 6.45 pm, the police said, adding no one was hurt in the incident.
A nearby government office was also pelted with stones, they said. Several volunteers inside the Gurudwara heard some noise and went out to check but they found no one, Gurudwara president Gurdial Singh was quoted as saying by the local daily New Strait Times.
City police chief Dep Comm Sabtu Osman said, "The incident is believed to be caused by some naughty kids. The Telecom building next to the Sikh temple was also pelted with similar kind of stones."
The case is being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for desecrating a place of worship. Nearly 60 per cent of Malaysians are Malay Muslims. Ethnic Chinese are 25 per cent and ethnic Indians are 10 per cent. Sikhs, who are ethnic Indians, number about 120,000 in Malaysia. Most ethnic Indians are Hindus.
Earlier, at least eight churches were attacked after a court allowed non-Muslims to use the word 'Allah'.
Gurudwara president Gurdial Singh was quoted as saying that some of their holy scriptures use the word 'Allah' to refer to God.
