Pakistan: Demolition of historic Sikh shrine raises fresh concerns over protection of minorities, their heritage

Islamabad, July 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) The demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Pakistan's Farooqabad has left portions of the historic shrine in rubble after a local businessman allegedly carried out the work without legal clearance or court order. Authorities acknowledged the demolition only after Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets to protest the incident, a report has stated.

"For the Sikh community of Farooqabad, the night of June 24 was not an abstraction. It was the sound of machinery tearing into a building their grandparents’ grandparents had prayed in — a gurdwara built over a century ago, when the Singh Sabha movement was still reshaping what it meant to be Sikh in a modernising Punjab. By morning, portions of the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib lay in rubble, demolished by a local businessman who never bothered to seek the legal clearance required to touch it. No court order. No warning to the community that has treated this ground as sacred for generations," a report in Khalsa Vox detailed.

“What happened next says everything about what it costs, in Pakistan today, to be a religious minority guarding your own history. It wasn’t the heritage department that stopped the bulldozers. It wasn’t the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the very institution created to protect Sikh religious property. It was ordinary Sikh residents of Farooqabad who had to pour into the streets — who had to make noise, take risks, and force a confrontation with indifference — before anyone in authority even acknowledged that a 125-year-old shrine was being erased,” it added.

According to the report, an official later admitted that the department failed to take notice of the demolition until local Sikhs protested. It added that the Pakistani authorities responded only after a minority community, long burdened by institutional neglect, was forced to stand up and defend its heritage.

“That is the real story here — not a bureaucratic lapse, but a community once again forced to fight for the right to simply exist and be remembered. The Sikhs of Farooqabad did not have the luxury of trusting their government to protect what mattered to them. They had to protest to be seen at all,” it noted.

Earlier this month, India had strongly condemned the "highly deplorable" and "targeted act of vandalism" against the revered Sikh shrine in Pakistan while once again highlighting the systemic targeting of religious minorities and their places of worship across the border which continues unabated.

Responding to media queries, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India has taken note of the "deeply distressing" reports regarding the demolition of the historic 125-year-old sacred Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, Pakistan.

"We strongly condemn this highly deplorable and targeted act of vandalism against a revered Sikh shrine. Its destruction, along with reports of no meaningful action being taken by local authorities or the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), is a matter of grave concern," he said.

"This is unfortunately not an isolated incident, as we have also seen similar reports earlier. The systemic targeting of religious minorities and their places of worship in Pakistan continues unabated. We call upon the Government of Pakistan to expeditiously investigate this matter and bring the perpetrators of this despicable act to justice," Jaiswal added.

India urged that the demolished portions of the Gurdwara Sahib should be restored and reconstructed at the earliest.

"Further, we urge the Government of Pakistan to discharge its obligations to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of its minority communities and their places of worship, and put a decisive end to the prevailing environment of sectarian violence and religious intolerance in Pakistan," the MEA spokesperson stated.

Source: IANS