RAWALPINDI: The shrine of Baba Masoom Shah is located just a few minutes’ walk from Rawalpindi Railway Station, right along the main line to Peshawar.

But the modest mausoleum has become a bone of contention for the Pakistan Railways and the Auqaf Department as both departments lock horns over who gets to keep the charity money collected at the shrine.

The shrine has been around for at least 80 years now. Locals say that Baba Masoom Shah came here from Afghanistan in 1882 and settled in Rawalpindi to teach Islamic values to people of the subcontinent.

Located next to Rawalpindi Railway Station, Masoom Shah’s shrine generates about Rs2.5m every year

“I have heard stories from different people about how the shrine was constructed along the railway lines during the British Raj. Baba Jee is also said to have worked at the Pindi Railway Station as a coolie (porter) and it is said that he would spend all that he earned on the welfare of the people,” Raja Yasir Aslam, leader of the local Railways Prem Union and a devotee of Baba Masoom Shah, told Dawn.

Devotees come here from the adjacent railway colonies and the Ratta Amral area. Thursdays are a festive occasion at the shrine as dozens of devotees light earthen lamps here. There is also a tradition of keeping a ‘mannat’ (votive offering), that often takes the form of a cash donation.

The shrine itself occupies only three to four marlas of land. But with its annual income estimated at Rs2.5 million, it is an enticing prospect for the two government departments.

Due to a lack of space inside the shrine, those who visit the mausoleum have to stand outside on the main road while offering fateha.

Tug of war

The dispute over control of the shrine is a longstanding one. Abdul Hameed, the Auqaf Department’s Rawalpindi administrator, told Dawn that railways had illegally occupied the shrine, even though it had been notified in favour of the Auqaf Department by the Punjab government in 2004.

“All shrines fall under the administrative control of the Auqaf Department, but railways officials do not want to let it go because they collect a lot of money from it,” he said.

He said his department had written to the Punjab Auqaf secretary last week and asked him to take up the issue with Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

“When we contacted the railways’ divisional superintendent and asked him to hand over control of the shrine to Auqaf, they refused to do so citing citing security reasons,” he said.

However, Rawalpindi Divisional Superintendent Abdul Malik told Dawn that the shrine was located on the main line to Peshawar and it was not possible for Pakistan Railways to allow any other department to use its property.

He said that under the law, no construction was allowed within 100 feet on either side of a railway track, while the shrine was located only 50 feet from the main track. He said that under the regulations, anything within 100 feet of a railway line was Pakistan Railways property.

He alleged that the Auqaf Department was only raising a hue and cry over the issue because they wanted to get their hands on the charity money collected from the shrine.

He said that the shrine had been run by Musarat Shah, a local pir from Ratta Amral. But in the year 2000, then- Railways Minister retired General Javed Ashraf Qazi – with help from military authorities – had managed to get the shrine vacated.

Since it was located close to an army Transit Camp, the shrine was a security risk. Since railways had its own police and security apparatus, the department did not believe that it was prudent to hand over the shrine to another department.

However, Mr Hameed from the Auqaf Department said that they had obtained a No-Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Defence on December 8, 2014.

“It clearly cites that the ministry had no objection from a security point of view in case charge of the shrine is taken over by Auqaf Department Punjab. However, endeavours should be made to address all security concerns and following measures to make the shrine more secure,” the administrator quoted the NoC letter as saying.

He also alleged that railways used the charity money from the shrine for its own use instead of improving the shrine.

“There is no parking space and no proper management of all the devotees that gather outside the shrine on Thursday and Friday. That is a real security threat,” he said.

But Mr Malik claimed that his department had formed a committee for the effective utilisation of the charity collected from the shrine and said that the money was spent on the welfare of widows and orphan girls.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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