NAROWAL: The members of local Hindu community have to face difficulties and travel long distances to perform their religious and cultural rituals, including marriage and death rites because of absence of any functional temple in the district.

Even before the Partition, many Hindu families had been living in the villages and towns in the area which is now in Pakistani territory and they are still residing there.

Dozens of Hindu families are living in three tehsils of Narowal district -- Narowal, Shakargarh and Zafarwal.

Hindu families are living in Ghauta Fatehgarh, Bathanwala, Badumalhi, Ahmedabad, Malukpur, Alipur, Aurangabad and other villages of Narowal tehsil, while in Shakargarh tehsil they are residing in Beriyan, Sangran, Sukhochak, Raibamor. Bajar, Ikhlaspur, Bherri khurd Jasad and Aliabad villages. Similarly, many Hindu families live in Zafarwal tehsil’s Lala, Sankhatra, Sangyal, Dudhochak, Darman, Kot Bawa, Bada Pind, Jarpal and Jatwal villages.

As per official data the district is inhabited by some 1,253 Hindus including men, women and children.Ratan Lal Arya, a former member of the Narowal District Council, a member of the District Peace Committee and an ex-president of Pak Dharam Astan Committee, told Dawn that due to absence of a temple in the district, members of the Hindu community have either to perform their religious rituals inside their homes or go to the temples located in big cities like Sialkot, Lahore and Rawalpindi for the purpose on the occasion of Holi, Diwali, Month of Shabrati, Rakshaw Bandha etc.

Similarly, he says the local Hindu community members have to also travel long distances to perform their marriage and death rites because of absence of a functional temple in the district.

He says there are two Hindu temples in Narowal city and five others in Zafarwal, but the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has changed their status and rented them out allegedly in connivance with some interested parties, who are using these places for other purposes.

He says that in 2013, the ETPB had renovated two rooms of a temple at Bohli in Zafarwal tehsil for performing rituals on the insistence of the local Hindu community. However, only after a year, the board again changed the status of the Bohli temple and rented it out to a private person.

Another Hindu community member, Pandit Tarsimlal, regrets that on religious festivals, the Hindu families have to perform rituals inside their homes because there is no temple nearby.

He says the government of Pakistan spends millions of rupees annually on the welfare of the minorities and the beautification of their places of worship, but ETPB officials have deprived the Hindu community in the district of their right to have a functional temple.

Pandit Mangat Ram, a Hindu community member, says that one of the temples rented out by the ETPB, is being used as a cattle pen and a barn to store fodder.

Sawan Chandr, president of Pak Dharam Province Committee, says the minorities have full freedom in Pakistan. However, he says that after 1965 and 1971 wars between Pakistan and India and due to the Babri Masjid incident, some enraged locals partially damaged the Hindu temples in the area.

Otherwise, he says, the Hindus are freely doing their businesses and jobs, while the younger members of the community are getting education without any hindrance here, adding that they perform their religious rituals without any obstruction in Pakistan.

He alleges that the ETPB officials change the status of Hindu temples and rent these places out for their personal interests.

He demanded that the government should allocate at least one temple in Zafarwal tehsil to the local Hindu community and renovate it for performance of their religious rituals.

Advocate Resham Kumari, a member Zafarwal Tehsil Bar Association says, “Due to the absence of a functional Hindu temple in the district, we have to perform puja (worship) inside our homes. On our religious festival, we gather the local Hindu families at our house where we jointly perform puja on its roof.”

Sialkot ETPB Deputy Administrator Tanveer Hussain, says that the board has so far received no request from Narowal for the allotment and restoration of any temple for the Hindu community.

He termed the allegations of collusion of ETPB officials with any private party for renting out temples false and baseless.

Narowal Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashraf says the district administration does not receive any funds for upkeep of places of worship, adding that it is the responsibility of the ETPB and the Ministry of Religious Affairs to restore and beautify Hindu temples.

Meanwhile, the local Hindu community leaders have demanded the caretaker prime minister and chief minister should take immediate notice of the situation and order steps to resolve the longstanding issue.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2023