Sikhs want Gurdwara Joga Singh repaired

Cracks appeared in the structure during the 2005 earthquake

PESHAWAR:

The Sikh community of Peshawar has demanded of the government to take notice of the ever-deteriorating condition of gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh inside the old walled city of Peshawar.

They have pointed out that their sacred place of worship has been in a very bad shape due to lack of repair and neglect. The structure is one of the many ancient gurdwaras located in Peshawar which has a religious significance. It was founded by a companion of the 10th Sikh guru Bahi Joga Singh who hailed from Peshawar and the mohalla is also named after him.

He was sent to Peshawar for preaching and he founded this gurdwara during the Mughal era. It was the Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa, however, who rebuilt it soon after the annexation of Peshawar by the Khalsa Army. A third renovation and expansion was done by a rich local Sikh transporter Bahi Jay Mal before the partition which gave the building its current shape.

The beautiful structure, however, was abandoned after partition when all the Sikh and Hindu families were forced to migrate to India, leaving their homes and places of worship behind.

In the 1980s the government changed its policy and the building was handed back to the Sikh community who formed a committee to manage it.

Read: Restoration of Sikh and Hindu temples to expedite after lockdown

“It was renovated to a certain degree when it was handed over to the Sikh community but most of the renovation was limited to adding new floors and making some decoration in the ceilings. The structural damage was not repaired and fixed as a result there are cracks in the building which could lead to any big mishap if not checked,” a local Sikh elder Gorpal Singh told The Express Tribune, adding that so far the committee managed to do all repairs on its own but in the 2005 earthquake it developed cracks which cannot be repaired without demolishing the building.

“This is part of the problem as the structure has historic significance now. It cannot be demolished under the law neither could we change the design on our own. At least Rs200 million is required for rebuilding the structure which we can’t afford,” he said, adding that Joga Singh was the main gurdwara in the town for Sikh community.

It is worth mentioning here that there are around 7,500 Sikh individuals living in Peshawar and most of them are settled in the Mohalla Jogan Shah which was historically the main settlement of Sikh community in Peshawar before partition. The Sikh community in the city, however, is entirely composed of immigrants from Khyber, Orakzai and Kurram tribal districts as the original Sikh inhabitants migrated to India.

“The families of Peshawari Sikhs are still living in India remembering their roots very much. The Jay Mal family recently constructed a gurdwara in India on the pattern of Peshawar’s Bhai Joga Singh gurdwara,” Gorpal Singh informed this reporter, adding that yatris from India and other countries too were not allowed to visit Peshawar. This ban should be lifted as soon as possible to allow Sikhs with Peshawar background to visit their ancestral city.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2021.