KOHAT, Feb 27: An arbitration committee constituted by the NWFP chief minister has resolved a dispute about the ownership of an old shrine in Teri area of Karak district after two years of negotiations and opened it to Hindus.

The committee comprised the Balochistan minorities minister, scholars and followers of Shri Per Mahans Jee Maharaj. Local leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam have criticized the decision and said that no Hindu family lived in the area and there was no need to open the shrine for the followers of the guru living in other parts of the country.

JUI leader Maulana Sharif said the Khattak tribe would not allow Hindus to visit the shrine or reconstruct it. He refused to accept the legality of the arbitration committee.

The Hindu community in Karachi had demanded re-construction of the Mandar Krishan Dawara, the shrine of the guru who died in 1919, which was demolished by local people, and lifting of restrictions on Hindus to visit it.

The committee approved re-construction of the shrine with a room with an attached bathroom and a kitchen and allowed Hindus to perform pilgrimage there once in a year. The chief minister had constituted the committee to decide the issue in the light of historical facts.