Gurdwara Land For Defence Colony Agitates Pak Sikhs

[Azaad]

Sikhs of Pakistan are up in arms against the Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board (PETPB) deciding to sell 34 acres of Bebe Nanki Gurdwara at Dera Chahal in Lahore district for a defence colony.

Former president, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC), Bishan Singh said on the telephone that the Sikh sangat would hold an emergency meeting at Nankana Sahib soon to protest with government of Pakistan. “The board had no legal right to dispose of the land of historical gurdwara,” he said. Earlier, Pakistani Sikhs held a series of meetings with Syed Asif Hashmi, the first non-army chairman of the PETPB, but he failed to deliver goods.

Dera Chahal is 35 km from Lahore towards Ghawindi. The Sikh shrine is called Janamasthan Bebe (elder sister) Nanaki. Guru Nanak Dev visited this village several times as his maternal grandparents were from this village. Here Bebe Nanaki, elder sister of the Guru, was born in Samvat 1524.

The building of the gurdwara was in bad shape till 1996 when the then Prime Minister of Pakistan spent Rs 5 lakh out of public exchequer to get it repaired.

Earlier, the Archaeological Department of Pakistan had listed 130 important historical gurdwaras in a survey, conducted after Partition. These gurdwaras have own property in the form of agricultural land and buildings. Such land had been donated by Sikh devotees for the maintenance and upkeep of these gurdwaras. Some of these gurdwaras, especially Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib, have thousands of acres of land. However, this property went under the control of the Waqf Board after Partition and has since then been systematically misused.

The PSGPC has been without president for a long time and the decisions regarding gurdwaras are being taken by the PETPB without taking Sikhs into confidence.

[mala]

Sometimes I get the feeling that Sikh's are not as bothered as we should be about the Gurdwaras in Pakistan. These are massive astaans for us, places where our Guru were born, where the greatest Gursikhs lived, where our shaheedi's took place.

The babbars and other kharkus jumped the border during the 80/90s, if they could make so much rawla in Hindoostan, why the 'chup da dhan' in Pakistan?

[GillAUS]

Sometimes I get the feeling that Sikh's are not as bothered as we should be about the Gurdwaras in Pakistan. These are massive astaans for us, places where our Guru were born, where the greatest Gursikhs lived, where our shaheedi's took place.

The babbars and other kharkus jumped the border during the 80/90s, if they could make so much rawla in Hindoostan, why the 'chup da dhan' in Pakistan?

You are right - it's a shame that a lot of folks forget these places. If there were to be an independent Sikh homeland, these places MUST be included. Sikhs may have suffered in India, by they are also suffering just as bad in Pakistan.

[harmandeal]

Sometimes I get the feeling that Sikh's are not as bothered as we should be about the Gurdwaras in Pakistan. These are massive astaans for us, places where our Guru were born, where the greatest Gursikhs lived, where our shaheedi's took place.

The babbars and other kharkus jumped the border during the 80/90s, if they could make so much rawla in Hindoostan, why the 'chup da dhan' in Pakistan?

well why dont you do some action, you seem to bark a lot