Lahore’s Gurdwara Shahid Ganj:

Lahore’s Gurdwara Shahid Ganj:
Lesson for Ayodhya

Akshaya Mukul

Here’s a leaf from history, and possibly a lesson for those insisting the Babri site to be handed over to the VHP because they believe a Ram temple existed there. In Lahore’s famous Naulakha Bazar there still exists the Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singhnian which had at one time housed a mosque built in 1722.

Despite the fact that the existence of the mosque - demolished in 1935 - had never been doubted, the Privy Council in London during the British Raj ruled, in 1940, that Muslims’ rights over the property had ceased since the 12-year time during which it could have been restored to them had elapsed.

The judgment of the Privy Council - the highest appellate body in British India - survived Partition and the creation of Pakistan. Today, the historic Gurdwara is one of the religious places jathas from India visit every year during their trip to Sikh holy shrines across the Indo-Pak border.

In rejecting the demand of appellants, Anjuman-e-Islamia, for restitution, the Privy Council made it clear that since no one had sued within a statutory period to eject the person possessing ‘adversely’ the property belonging to the wakf, plaintiffs “born 100 years later” claim any rights. “The land cannot be recovered by, or for, the mutawali and the terms of endowment can no longer be enforced,’’ it said.

The litigation over Shahid Ganj is, in some ways, similar to the one being contested by Hindus and Muslims over ‘Ramjanambhoomi’. Shahid Ganj came under the Sikhs after Lahore was occupied by them in 1762. The Sikh rule ended only in 1849, after British annexation of the Punjab. A part of the mosque was turned into a shrine for Bhai Taru Singh, who along with other Sikh women and children, had suffered religious persecution and martyrdom at the hands of Mughal authorities in early 18th Century. When the British came in 1849, the mosque was still with Sikhs.

Then the litigation began. In 1850, a case by Nur Ahmad, claiming to be a descendant caretaker of the masjid, came to nothing as he had been long out of possession. On June 25, 1855 Ahmad brought another suit in the court of deputy commissioner, Lahore, against the Sikhs, which was also dismissed.

In 1925, the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was passed and the Shahid Ganj Gurdwara included as a Sikh shrine. Various parties made claims to the gurdwara but the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal held that it stay with a committee of management for the notified Sikh Gurdwaras at Lahore. But on July 7, 1935, the building of Shahid Ganj was demolished, minutes of Privy Council say “by or with the connivance of its Sikh custodians’’, leading to riots and disorder in Lahore.

Then came another plaint in the court of the district judge, Lahore on October 30, 1935, against the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. But this was a curious plaint for it made no claim for possession of the property or ejectment of the defendants or for restoring it to its hereditary owners. It asked for a relief “claiming a declaration that the building was a mosque in which the plaintiffs and all followers of Islam had a right to worship, an injunction restraining any improper use of the building and any interference with the plaintiffs right of worship and a mandatory injunction to reconstruct the building.’’ This was dismissed by the district judge and later by the high court in 1938. Finally, it came to the Privy Council.

[Courtesy: Times News Network]