PESHAWAR: Six members of Sikh community on Monday moved Peshawar High Court against alleged auction of a portion of an ancient gurdwara in interior city by local officials of Evacuee Trust Property and a letter to local police for dispossessing the members of the community from that portion.

The joint writ petition was filed by member of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sahib Singh, and five members of the committee of Gurdwara Bhai Beba Singh, situated at Chaka Gali Peshawar.

The petitioners alleged that deputy administrator of Evacuee Trust Property on July 18, 2016, carried out a so-called auction of a portion of Gurdwara Bhai Beba Singh and subsequently he issued a letter on November 20, 2018, to the local police asking them for handing over possession of the portion to the person, who was allotted the place in the said so-called auction.

The petitioners said when police officials came to the gurdwara for taking possession they themselves realised that the partition was inside the boundary wall of the gurdwara and was thus part of it.

Members of Sikh community want auction declared illegal

They requested the court to declare the auction on July 18, 2016, and subsequent letter issued to the police as illegal and without lawful authority.

The respondents in the petition are federal government through secretary religious affairs; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through chief secretary, Evacuee Trust Property Board through its chairman, deputy secretary of ETPB Lahore, deputy administrator of ETPB Peshawar and the station house officer of Hashtnagri police station.

The petition, filed through Advocate Samiullah, states that the members of the Sikh community have been performing their religious obligations at Gurdwara Bahi Beba Singh since pre-partition time. It added that the gurdwara was also a historical site for Sikh community throughout the world.

The petitioners stated that on March 22, 2017, the members of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) submitted an application to EPTB chairman, seeking permission to construct a dining hall at an open space within the boundary wall of the gurdwara.

They claimed that the request was accepted by the chairman and on March 24, 2017, an official letter was issued by the deputy secretary (shrines) to the administrator of ETP, Rawalpindi, for immediate action.

The petitioners claimed that for their utter surprise the SHO of the concerned police station approached the gurdwara and intended to dispossess the members.

However, they stated when the SHO was shown that the portion was on the premises of the gurdwara, he left the place.

They claimed that they were informed by the SHO that an auction had taken place in 2016 through which the said portion was leased out to a person and subsequently the impugned letter on November 20 was issued to him for dispossessing the members of Sikh community from that portion.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018