LAHORE: The city’s historic Jain Mandir located at a busy intersection, aptly named after the temple, is going through a well-deserved reconstruction and rehabilitation.

One of merely handful of Jain temples in town, it was attacked and damaged in 1992 — along with many other temples in Lahore — a couple of days after hordes of right-wing Hindu activists razed to the ground the 16th century Babri Mosque in the Ayodhya city of India. The historic mosque was one of the structures built during the rule of the first Mughal emperor, Babur.

The temple’s canopy was the only piece of the original structure that survived. Its ruins lay neglected for the next over two decades, until in 2016 it was enclosed behind a boundary wall and the remaining site given away to the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT).

In Dec 2021, a day before the 19th anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition, the then chief justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed ordered immediate restoration of the temple, as well as the one in Neela Gumbad.

Punjabi author Iqbal Qaiser, who researched the forgotten remains of Jain heritage in Pakistan and compiled more than 20 of the important temples in the country in his book, titled Ujray Daran De Darshan (A Peek into the Deserted Doors), told Dawn the Jain Mandir near Anarkali had been constructed by a woman with her own resources in 1940.

It remained active till the Partition and had been lying abandoned since then until it was destroyed in 1992.

Mr Qaiser also pointed out two other major Jain temples in Lahore, one of which was located in Bhabra. The second existed in the narrow lanes of Bhati Gate, Lahore, built by Emperor Akbar, and was reconstructed during the British era. It was later demolished in 1940 where now stands the Jain Hall.

Just weeks after the SC’s orders, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) initiated reconstruction of the temple, lying right opposite an enormous OLMT station, and now expects to complete it in just over a month. If one passes by the under-construction temple, scaffoldings fixed to the top of its cone-shaped structure could be seen with labourers busy reconstructing it.

ETPB Deputy Secretary Faraz Abbas told Dawn that the ongoing rehabilitation of Jain Mandir, being undertaken with approximately Rs5m, will take around a month or so, as over 70pc of the work has been completed.

“After creating a foundation, the surviving portion of the temple was lifted through a crane and placed on three-four feet high platform.”

Elaborating on the work undertaken, the official said a sewerage line had been laid, CCTV cameras set up, new gates installed on the premises, walls plastered, landscaping done, pigeon holes restored, and the finishing was currently under way.

He said it was being ensured the design of the temple remained in line with Jain religion architecture. ETPB Chairman Dr Aamer Ahmed and Shrines Additional Secretary Rana Shahid are personally supervising and monitoring the rehabilitation, Mr Abbas further added.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2022