Sikhs kept out of their own temple for Shab-e-Barat
LAHORE: The Sikh community in Lahore have been prevented from observing a religious celebration at a gurdwara, their musical equipment thrown out and their entry barred, after a religious group persuaded the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) that celebrating the Muslim holy day of Shab-e-Barat was more important than the Sikh religious festival.
Police have been deployed outside the temple to prevent the Sikhs from conducting their religious ceremonies until the end of Shab-e-Barat, which falls on July 18 this year. The Sikh community wanted to commemorate an eighteenth-century saint on July 16.
The Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh, in Naulakha Bazaar, Lahore, is built to honour the memory of a Sikh saint who was executed in 1745 on the orders of the Mughal governor of Punjab, Zakaria Khan. Every July, the Sikh community has held religious ceremonies to commemorate his sacrifice in the service of humanity.
While the temple was taken over by the ETPB after Partition, the Sikh community had been allowed to continue using it with relatively few restrictions.
Until four years ago.
It was then that a gang of young men from the Dawat-e-Islami, a Barelvi proselytising group, claimed that the gurdwara was located on the site of the burial place of a fifteenth century Muslim saint, Pir Shah Kaku. The group claims that Kaku was the grandson of Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar, an implausible claim since Ganjshakar died in 1280, while they claim that Kaku died almost 200 years later, in 1477.
The Sikh community had approached the ETPB, which had then allowed both communities to observe their religious rituals according to their own beliefs at the temple. The group used it every Thursday for prayer services while the Sikh community used it once a year for the anniversary of Taru Singh’s martyrdom.
This year, however, when young men from the Sikh community went in to set up their musical instruments on July 13, they were thrown out by the men from Dawat-e-Islami and prevented from re-entering.Members of the Sikh community, many of whom fear to be identified, said that the leader of the group of men, Sohail Butt, claimed that the temple was now a mosque and that they would not be allowed to bring in their musical instruments any more.
Butt admitted to preventing the Sikhs from performing their ritual, claiming that the temple was inside the courtyard of the mosque. “Shab-e-Barat is more important than the Sikh ritual,” Butt said, adding that the ETPB had accepted his group’s stance.
Officials from the ETPB admit that they have asked the Sikh community to postpone their celebrations until after Shab-e-Barat.
ETPB Deputy Administrator Faraz Abbas, who deals with Sikh affairs across the country, even admitted that they had been denied entry into the temple though denied that any musical instruments had been thrown out of the gurdwara.
ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi was not available for comment as he is abroad.The incident, however, has been highly distressing for the Sikh community.
Gurunanak Mission President Sardar Bishon Singh told The Express Tribune that the ETPB’s decision to bar Sikhs from entering their temple was against the constitution. He said that he approached the ETPB but was told to wait until after Shab-e-Barat.
“How can we postpone the rituals of our faith,” he asked, adding that the government was not paying attention to their cause.
Singh claimed that the ETPB is planning to gradually eliminate and sell all gurdwaras from Pakistan, alarming for Sikhs around the world. He appealed to Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu action over the violation of rights of minorities in the country.
Sikhs kept out of their own temple for Shab-e-Barat – The Express Tribune
Sikhs fear part of centuries-old Gurdwara may be demolished
PESHAWAR: The renovation work on the centuries-old Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh is nearing completion, but two parts of the building which constitute the musafir khana (lodging for pilgrims) and langar khana (free meal centre) have not been restored, enraging Sikhs who had been waiting for the reopening since long.
Work at Biba Singh started in January 2012. It was initiated by the chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, with a budget of around Rs5.5 million. Biba Singh, within the walled city, is one of the two gurdwaras in the city and has not been used for worship since partition.
Decades of negligence and lack of interest in preserving the gurdwara has done considerable damage to the buildings. The roof of the langar khana has collapsed, while the musafir khana too is in a deplorable state. However, under the renovation project, only the main hall used for worship has been renovated, which was in a far better condition.
The Evacuee Trust Board is now claiming that the langar khana is in fact a Hindu temple established in the premises of the gurdwara and it can therefore not be handed over to the Sikhs. “The gurdwara building is being restored and two Sikh religious leaders, including a sewadar will be provided for the building and will be paid by the trust,” said Isfaq, a trust board official. “The trust will also maintain the building.” The schedule for making the gurdwara open for worship will be decided by the Sikhs and the trust, he told The Express Tribune.
Sikh elder Baba Amarjit Singh, however, said: “Those people who have a thorough knowledge of the Sikh religion and religious buildings would tell you that the two-storey building is a musafir khana and the small beautiful building in front of the main worship hall is indeed a langar khana and not a Hindu temple.”He added the gurdwara was established at the time of the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, who died in 1708, making this structure at least 300 years old.
Until 2005, it housed a vocational training centre for girls, which was shifted to a new building following an earthquake. The historical site was declared dangerous and on the verge of collapse. There are reports that the land of langar khana was auctioned in the 1996, after which Sikhs protested and the demolition of the building was postponed.Despite repeated attempts, the Minister for Hajj and Auqaf was not available for comment.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/508480/sikhs-fear-part-of-centuries-old-gurdwara-may-be-demolished/
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