AMRITSAR/ QUETTA
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Thursday hailed the reopening of 200-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Quetta city of Balochistan province of Pakistan.
The Balochistan provincial government on Wednesday handed over the gurdwara to the Sikh community after its restoration. “The Pakistan government’s move is worth being hailed. We also congratulate the followers of Guru Nanak in the neighbouring country,” said Gobind Singh Longowal, president of the SGPC, the apex gurdwara management body in India.
The gurdwara that served as a school for Muslim girls for seven decades was returned to the Sikh community on Wednesday, enabling them to worship there for the first time in 73 years, Pak officials said on Thursday.
Longowal said there are a large number of gurdwaras in Pakistan and most of them were closed after Partition. “The reopening of gurdwaras after decades on demand of the devotees is a great respect to their religious sentiments,” he said.
The gurdwara stood empty for a year or two when most Sikhs left Pakistan after Partition in 1947, following two centuries of colonial rule.
Under the government’s guardianship, a school was later set up in the gurdwara building, which remained functional until recently, when Sikhs won a legal battle to have the property returned, gurdwara custodian Govind Singh said.
He said Sikhs living in Quetta were delighted to get back to their worship place.
{{/usCountry}}He said Sikhs living in Quetta were delighted to get back to their worship place.
{{/usCountry}}“This is the best gift for us. We are grateful to Pakistan and the judiciary for giving it back to us,” local Sikh leader Jasbir Singh said. “For us, it is like a dream come true.”
Singh spoke as jubilant members of the Sikh community, adhering to social distancing rules to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, gathered at the temple to worship.
The gurdwara could not be returned to the community earlier because of a lingering legal battle between local Sikhs and the provincial government, Singh said.
Abdullah Khilji, an official at the education department in Balochistan, said hundreds of schoolgirls who were studying at the gurdwara building were relocated to a nearby school where they have since adjusted.
The development comes at a time when Pakistan’s tiny Hindu minority is facing resistance from Muslim activists for attempting to build a temple in the capital. Initially, the government approved its construction, but then reversed the decision after Muslims objected.