In the heart of Mansehra city stands the municipal library’s building, which was once a gurdwara, a Sikh placeofworship.

A Mughal architectural masterpiece, the Kashmir Road multi-storey structure is attracting knowledge seekers both men and women in large numbers.

The visitors talk about riots in the region at the time of the Partition almost 70 years ago.

They told Dawn that a group of people wanted to destroy the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which was built in 1905, but failed due to the resistance of influential landlord Khan Ayub Khan, who said after the departure of Hindus from the region, this and other architectural places abandoned by them should be preserved as great assets of the newly-established country.

Shaikh Mohammad Ayaz, whose ancestors had converted to Islam from Sikhism centuries ago, said whatever the kindhearted man (Khan Ayub Khan) had said and done later turned out to be right.

He said the historical building had provided the people with a good opportunity to seek knowledge by reading books in a peaceful environment.

Having remained in the use of various departments from education to police to food since Sikhs abandoned it at the time of the Partition, the building began witnessing signs of wear and tear few years ago prompting the then tehsil nazim, Khurram Khan Swati, to announce its protection.

“Preservation of this gurdwara building with original appeal was an uphill task but I made that happen by engaging artists known for decorating ancient buildings across the country,” Swati said. He said the building was an excellent piece of Mughal architectural work mostly done on white marble.

The former nazim said the interior and the exterior of the building including colourfully-decorated balconies remained unchanged during preservation work.

“The rainwater used to leak into the building through rooftop and sidewalls and thus, destroying books and therefore, I, after assuming the nazim’s office, promised to preserve the building and fulfilled that promise,” he said.

A marble plate fixed on the ground floor is inscribed with names of those, who donated money for the gurdwara’s construction, including one with a mention of Rs50 contribution.

Mohammad Tariq, an assistant at the library, said Sikh saint Sardar Gopal Singh Saithi of Hazro had laid the foundation stone of gurdwara in 1905.

“This building remained in the control of several government departments for years, while a school was established here after the Partition,” he said.

The assistant said when Mansehra was made a district in 1976, the building was handed over to the police department, which established the city police station in it. Though set up much earlier, this public library formally got this status in 2000 and since then, it has been a seat of learning.

According to him, the people both registered and unregistered visit the library in large numbers everyday to read newspapers and books on history, science and other subjects.

Like men, women can visit this place all through the week but Saturdays are specified for them only.

Mohammad Ibrar, a college student, said he didn’t find such a peaceful environment to study not even at home.

Mohammad Zulfiqar said the library should be linked with worldwide libraries to enable local residents, especially students, to share knowledge and expertise with foreigners.

He said the TMA could upgrade the facility from its own financial resources but it should better ask the federal or provincial government for grants.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2019