Panj Tirath’s opening delayed on opposition from locals

ETPB official assures that reservations expressed by teachers at nearby seminary will be addressed

PESHAWAR: The inauguration of the ancient Hindu religious site of Panj Tirath, after restorative works, in Peshawar has been delayed after reservations were expressed by locals.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the ancient Hindu religious site of Panj Tirath, which had been declared a national heritage by the provincial government last year, had been closed for the past year for restoration and reconstruction work.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in Peshawar, which manages the property, was due to reopen the site in an event scheduled for January 21, earlier this week. However, the event was pushed back, The Express Tribune learnt.

One of the reasons, sources said, was that some locals, including a nearby seminary, had expressed its reservations.

When asked, ETPB Administrator Asif Jan rejected reports that the delay in reopening the site was due to pressure from locals. However, he did concede that teachers at a nearby seminary had expressed some reservations.

Jan added that the board will address concerns expressed by locals and inaugurate the centuries-old Hindu religious site.

“The Peshawar Hindu Panchayat Rajput Welfare Society had requested to open the temple, and after taking the administration of the nearby seminary into confidence over the decision, it will be opened,” Jan assured. He further clarified that there was no dispute over the property and that it belongs to the Hindu community.

All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement Chairman Haroon Sarbdyal, however, contradicted Jan, telling The Express Tribune that elders of the Hindu community in Peshawar have not been taken into confidence over the inauguration of the temple.

“We demanded that people, who could enlighten Hindu devotees, visitors and also locals about the significance of the centuries-old religious site, should be appointed as its in-charge,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Reserved Seat for Minorities member of provincial parliament Ravi Kumar told The Express Tribune that before the scheduled reopening being delayed, some administrative issues and reservations from locals had brought the restoration and reconstruction work on Panj Tirath to a halt for a while now.

However, he said that the government aims to address all reservations of the neighbourhood and then formally hand it over to the local Hindu community.

The site, situated in the Hashtnagri area of the provincial capital, holds religious significance for the Hindu community who believe that King Pandu from the Mahabharata, bathed in the pools at the temple and worshipped under a date palm tree for two days.

The temple, though, has been a picture of neglect for years with parts of the temple’s grounds cleared in the 1970s to make room for offices of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chacha Yunus Park.

Panj Tirath is estimated to be over a thousand years old and is named after the five pools of water present at the site which also houses a Hindu temple and a lawn with date palm trees.

The K-P Directorate of Archaeology and Museums had issued a notification under the K-P Antiquities Act 2016, declaring land in the Panj Tirath Park as a heritage site. The government had also announced a fine of up to Rs2 million and five years of imprisonment for anyone who damages the historic site.

The K-P Archaeology Directorate had also asked the provincial government to remove encroachments from the site and allow the department to carry out its much-needed preservation work and construction of a boundary wall around the site.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2020.