PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Friday issued a stay order temporarily stopping the police and Evacuee Trust Property Board from handing over part of an ancient gurdwara in the capital city to a resident and asked them to respond to a petition of Sikh community against its alleged auction.

Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Mussarat Hilali sought comments from deputy administrator of ETPB Peshawar and SHO of the Gulfat Hussain Hashtnagri police station about the petition jointly filed by member of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Sahib Singh and five members of the committee overseeing the Gurdwara Bhai Beba Singh of Chaka Gali, Peshawar.

The petitioners claimed that the ETPB deputy administrator had carried out a so-called auction of a portion of the Gurdwara Bhai Beba Singh on July 18, 2016, and issued a letter on Nov 20, 2018, to the police asking them to ensure its handover to the allottee.

Asks ETPB, police officials to file response to petition on matter

They said when the police came to the gurdwara to claim the possession of its part, they learned that it was part of gurdwara for being located inside its boundary wall.

The petitioners requested the court to declare the July 18, 2016, ‘paper auction’ and the subsequent letter issued to the police illegal and without lawful authority.

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

The bench observed that nobody was permitted to occupy place of worship of any religious community. The bench ordered that members of the Sikh community should not be dispossessed from the said portion till further order by the court.

The petitioner’s counsel, Samiullah, said members of the Sikh community had been performing their religious obligations at the Gurdwara Bahi Beba Singh before the Partition. He added that the gurdwara was a historical site for Sikh community throughout the world.

The lawyer said on Mar 22, 2017, members of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee made an application to the EPTB chairman seeking permission to construct a dining hall over an open space within the boundary wall of the gurdwara.

He said the request was accepted by the chairman and on Mar 24, 2017, while an official letter was issued by the deputy secretary (shrines) to the administrator ETP, Rawalpindi, for immediate action.

The lawyer said the SHO of the relevant police station visited the gurdwara to claim possession of the place but left after finding it on the premises.

He said his clients were informed by the SHO that an auction had taken place in 2016 through which the open space was leased out to a person and subsequently the impugned letter on Nov 20 was issued to the SHO for dispossessing the Sikh community from that portion.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018