Hindus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
PESHAWAR: As the sun grows on the soft autumn sky, Zahid Kumar and his two sons take to the historic Goro Goraknath temple in the middle of Peshawar, to spend their day in service. “It’s not our job to clean the temple, but doing so brings my family a sense of religious fulfilment,” says the bronze-skinned gent.
Pre-independence, the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was home to approximately 50,000 Hindu families. But in the years after partition, the number dropped to only 1,200 in Peshawar as people migrated en masse to the other side of the border.
However, for all those who stayed back like Kumar, a sturdy man of 35, the city of Peshawar became a haven where they could continue to enjoy religious freedom and live peacefully alongside the Muslims.
“We’ve always lived in peace with our Muslim neighbours; we participate in their religious festivals and mourn with them in their days of sorrow like they do in our,” shares Kumar, who’s also the former president of Sankar Civil Society and a member of the National Peace Force Committee for Interfaith Harmony (NPFCIH). “Recently, the local Hindu community has also started setting up Sabils in the month of Muharram to honour the sacrifices of Hussain (RA),” he added.
The city of Peshawar today is home to four Hindu tribes – the Balmiks, the Rajputs, the Heer Ratan Raths and the Bhai Joga Singh Gurdwara community. Since partition, the four tribes have lived in harmony with all religious communities, sharing a special rapport with those of the Muslim faith. “There’s a mosque right in front of our temple, so there’s a lot of intermingling of the two faiths and we greet each other regularly,” said Kumar, as his sons frolicked barefoot on the courtyard’s sun-baked concrete floor.
Northern Pakistan
Hindu community in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cut short Maha Shivratri celebrations
In Mansehra district, the Hindu community have their annual Maha Shivratri celebrations for three days.
Maha Shivratri celebrations afp Maha Shivratri celebrations , AFP
The Hindu community in Pakistan's Mansehra district cut short its annual three-day Maha Shivaratri festival by a day mainly due to the prevailing security situation in the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
"We normally celebrate this festival for three days every year, but our elders decided to cut it short," Darshan Lal, a Hindu caretaker of the nearly 1,500 years old Shiv Temple in Mansehra, was quoted as saying by The
Express Tribune.
Members of the Hindu community from across Pakistan gather at the Shiv Temple in Chiti Gati Gandiyan of Mansehra district to celebrate Shivaratri - believed to be the day when Lord Shiva and Parvati got married. The festival began on Friday amid tight security. Over 700 fasting devotees from as far as Abbottabad, Kohat, Banu, Mardan, Peshawar and Rawalpindi performed puja and traditional rituals such as Ashnan (bathing) of Shiv with milk and honey.
The devotees on Saturday performed the rites of mehendi and Sehra bandi of Shiva. Amid reverberating sounds of bells and chants of religious slogans, devotees circled around the linga, offering their prayers, the paper said. However, the festivities were cut short a day ahead of schedule as the pundits including Sham Lal, Chaman Lal and Ratan conducted a special puja, it said.
Explaining reasons behind cutting the festival short, Darshan Lal said there's not sufficient space to accommodate all the devotees in the temple and its surrounding village. Secondly, owing to the security situation, the elders had decided to end their celebrations on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday evening, he added.