Pak intentions behind PGPC creation
by J.S. Sandhu
THE Archaeological Department of Pakistan had conducted a survey of Sikh historical gurdwaras soon after Partition. It had listed as many as 130 important gurdwaras. Detailed information about these gurdwaras was later incorporated in the book Sikh Shrines in West Pakistan by Khan Mohammad Waliullah Khan and published by the department in 1962.
These shrines include 28 gurdwaras built in the memory of Guru Nanak Dev Gurdwara Janamasthan, Nankana Sahib; Gurdwara Sacha Sauda; Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Hassan Abdal; Gurdwara Chaki Sahib, Eminabad; Gurdwara Darbar Shaib, Kartarpur; Gurdwara Bairi Sahib; Sialkot, etc. One gurdwara, Janamasthan Guru Ram Das, Lahore, marks the memory of the fourth Guru, Sri Ram Das.
Eight gurdwaras, including Gurdwara Budhu ka Awa, Lahore; Samadhi of Guru Arjan Dev; and Gurdwara Haft Madar, Sheikhupura, are in the memory of the fifth Guru, Sri Arjan Dev. There are 12 gurdwaras in the memory of the sixth Guru Shri Hargobind.
Each of these gurdwaras has its own property in the form of agricultural land and buildings. Such land had been donated by Sikh devotees from time to time for the maintenance and upkeep of these gurdwaras. Some of these gurdwaras thus have thousands of acres of land. The property of these gurdwaras is worth hundreds of crores of rupees. This property came under the control of the Waqf Board after Partition and has since then been systematically misused and misappropriated. Except for very few gurdwaras, where Sikh pilgrims from India are allowed to visit in the form of jathas on religious or historical occasions, not a rupee has been spent on the maintenance and upkeep of other gurdwaras by the Waqf Board.
Sikh devotees, who have acquired foreign nationality and could visit some of the gurdwaras (beyond access to Indian Sikhs), have come back with horrifying accounts. These gurdwaras are not only in a bad state of disrepair but have been systematically desecrated by local residents who use them as shelter for domestic animals and as ground for drying dung cakes. Shops have been set up on the gurdwara premises and essential routine of prayers is not being followed. These grand sites marking significant events in Sikh history are today but lifeless and decrepit buildings.
Knowledge of the sad state of gurdwaras in Pakistan has been commonplace among Sikhs worldwide, there has been an intense desire among them to gain access to all gurdwaras in Pakistan so that they can be surveyed before repair work is undertaken and moves are initiated with the administration for eviction of encroachers and for restoration of alienated land. On its part, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has been demanding that the gurdwaras in Pakistan, part of its domain between 1929 and 1947, should be restored to it. The SGPC has made several appeals to the Pakistan Government in this regard. The intensity of the Sikhs desire to accomplish this task is amply reflected in the fact that, in prayers said twice a day, every Sikh beseeches God to bless him with free access to the gurdwaras in Pakistan so that they can be maintained just as the gurdwaras in India are done.
It is worth recalling that the Sikhs had to wage a prolonged struggle to recover control of gurdwaras from corrupt Mahants, who were using the resources of gurdwaras for personal aggrandisement. The Mahants had taken care to keep the British on their right side. The patience and persistence of Sikhs involved in the struggle to liberate the gurdwaras was rewarded as the SGPC was formed as an elected body to run the gurdwaras. In the wake of Partition, the Waqf Board took over charge of the gurdwaras in Pakistan and the results are for all to see. The Waqf Board has fared no better than the Mahants. The pain in the hearts of Sikhs is so intense that it cannot be imagined.
Three centuries have passed since the 10th Guru, Sri Gobind Singh, ordained the Khalsa. In commemorating this event recently, the entire Sikh community paid tribute to the vision of the great Guru, resolved to abide by his ministrations and undertook not to spare any effort for the preservation and advancement of Sikhism. Many world leaders, including Heads of State and the governments of India, UK and Canada, have felicitated the Sikhs and made complimentary references to the honesty and integrity exhibited consistently by members of the Sikh community. At this momentous juncture, as all Sikhs celebrate and rededicate themselves to the ideals cherished by their Gurus, Pakistan has delivered a body blow to the entire Sikh community. The Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PGPC) was formed through a recent notification. Its autocratic chief, Lt-Gen Javed Nasir (retd) was quick to show his true colours, as he prevented the SGPC from maintaining its traditional right to collecting offerings made by pilgrims on important religious occasions, when Indian Jathas visit the important gurdwaras in Pakistan.
If the Pakistan Government was sincere in its protestation of concern for the Sikh community and if it wanted to make a symbolic gesture on the occasion of the Khalsa tercentenary, it need not have wasted its time in setting up the PGPC. Without even giving up the stranglehold that it has maintained over the gurdwaras in Pakistan, it could have announced a phased programme for their restoration and repair, and for the restoration of alienated lands.
Instead, it proceeded to appoint Pakistani Sikhs to the PGPC, so that it could project that the Sikh community was being allowed to run its own affairs there. It does not need any effort to understand that neither Gyan Singh of Baluchistan, nor Ram Singh of Peshawar, nor Satnam Singh of Sindh, and their three other Sikh colleagues have religious credentials and that they are but instruments in the hands of General Nasir.
One fails to understand why three Muslims have been appointed on the PGPC. Is there an intention to Islamise Sikhs in this Islamic Republic which is inexorably sliding towards obscurantism? Clearly, no discerning Sikh would regard the creation of the PGPC as a step in the right direction.
General Nasir has already displayed his real intentions. In an interview (April 23) to Jung, the largest circulated Urdu daily in Pakistan, the former ISI leader did not so much as outline any plan for the restoration of gurdwaras in Pakistan to their original glory but proceeded to suggest that the creation of the PGPC would provide a fillip to the separatist movement in Punjab, which, in due course, would threaten the very integrity of the Indian nation. One wonders why an experienced General should believe the myth that there is a separatist movement in Punjab and why he should lay store by a non-existent phenomenon to achieve what might be regarded as a military objective. Clearly, he remains burdened primarily by military preoccupations.
All previous protestations of friendship of the Sikh community ring hollow and it is becoming increasing clear that Islamic fundamentalist elements, who control the government, have decided to appropriate unto themselves Sikh gurdwaras and the properties attached to them, so that all traces of the Sikh faith are removed from the firmament in Pakistan.
Sikhs have combated such challenges in the past and will do so now. Let the Pakistan government and its operatives not forget that the raison detre of the Sikh religion is its ability to protect the meek from oppression by Muslim rulers.
The Sikh Gurus made several sacrifices in the course of their such campaign. Two of them, the 5th Guru and the 9th Guru, were martyred in the process and the four sons of the 10th Guru were brutally killed. Many other loyal adherents of the Gurus gave up their lives in the struggle to liberate this land from the clutches of ruthless and avaricious Muslim rulers. The Sikhs maintain the spirit even today and will not hesitate to shed blood, if necessary, to protect their religion and all elements of their heritage, no matter what the locale.
tribuneindia... Editorial
I would presume that you are under the influence of a powerful drug which makes you say stuff which you yourself know is untrue. 
How can anyone say it is Pro-Muslim!!!
How can I have a conversation with someone who is suggesting that India is Pro-Muslim when muslims are so discontent and feel so unaccepted! Normally? Treated normally???... after all I have said you guys say this rather than be ashamed of how you people treat minorities and how many people are shifting from India because they aren't accepted as citizens. Fine call them "sob stories" if you want and continue ignoring them!
