PESHAWAR, Jan 7: The Evacuee Trust Property Board has not yet met the demand of Sikh community to hand over the possession of an abandoned Gurdwara in the walled-city of Peshawar.

The Gurdwara Biba Singh, constructed in the 19th century, had served as vocational training centre for girls since early 1960s. But, recently the provincial government vacated the temple as the entire building was about to collapse, an official said.

Ali Mohammad, who served as watchman of the building, said that major portion of the temple had already razed to ground and the police sealed the building.

The Sikhs complained that the government had encroached upon the site and a portion of the Gurdwara had been allocated for a girls high school. The Evacuee Trust Property Board has also rented out a small portion of the building.

The population of Sikh community in Peshawar went on growing with the passage of time as more members of the community migrated from the adjacent Khyber Agency settled here.

About 700 Sikh families had settled in Muhalla Jogan Shah and other localities of the city, according to thecommunity representatives. Dr Saib Singh, member of the city district council told Dawn that the Sikh community had so far no separate school for their children. He said the community wanted to establish a separate school in the temple for the Sikh children.

He said at present the Sikh children went to government-run schools in the morning and attended classes of religious education at two community centres in the evening.

He said they had requested the Board and Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah to hand over the temple to the community. The Sikh community has also offered to bear the construction cost of the temple, if the Board allowed them to rehabilitate the building.

A representative of the Sikh community said that Pakistan and India had signed an agreement in 1958 under which both countries would maintain and look after the worship places of religious minorities.

"The government should honour the agreement and hand over the possession of to the Sikh community," he said. He said the community generated funds from their own resources for the maintenance of Gurdwara Bhai Jugha Singh, which was renovated in early 1980s.

According to the community representatives, the Board had planned a few years back to auction the property, but the Sikhs blocked the move. Sources in the Evacuee Trust Property Board said the government had renovated an old temple in the city which was sufficient to cater to the needs of Sikh community.

They said that like other minorities, the Sikhs were also enjoying religious liberty. They said that the Sikh community had two schools in the city where their children were getting religious education in the evening shift. An official of the Board, when approached, expressed ignorance about the demand and said the government would take their demand into consideration.