Only a few passersby on Ghazni Road would know that the building which houses the Special Branch’s police office was previously a Gurdwara – a place of worship for Sikhs.

Instead of saving the national heritage, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the government did criminal injustice by renting out the building to the Police Special Branch.

The building was constructed about two centuries ago by the father of Sardar Kirpal Singh Rai Bahadur and Sardar Sujan Singh Rai Bahadur, before the establishment of British Rule in the Indian subcontinent, as mentioned on a plaque fixed to the Gurdwara.

At that time, the whole locality was a garden known as Bagh Sardaran.

Abdul Hai, a 90-year-old resident of the area, told Dawn that the garden was meant for the women of a noble Sikh family, who owned Haveli Sujan Singh and the palace which was later converted into Fatima Jinnah Women University.

He said the Sikh family constructed the Gurdwara in the garden to offer their religious rites. He said, after partition, the garden vanished and the people constructed their houses in the area.

“After the departure of Sikhs from Rawalpindi, the building was given to the Special Branch to establish their office, as it was lying vacant,” said ETPB Rawalpindi Chapter Administrator Wahab Gul, while talking to Dawn.

He said Rs10 million had been collected from the rent of such buildings in Rawalpindi district, all of which was spent on the welfare of the minorities. He said the rent of the building was collected from the police department on annual basis.

When contacted, All Pakistan Hindu-Sikh Welfare Association President Jagmohan Arora said his mother was a Sikh and she used to visit the Gurdwara before partition.

“I visited the place two years ago, when the police established their office in an adjacent temple, but the ETPB and we want the site and the temple to be vacated by the police department,” he said.

When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police Mohsin Ali was not available for comments on the subject.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014