Pre-partition Gurdwara Opens in Lahore; Religious Amity in Panjab

On 13 Feb, a Gurdwara located within the premises of the historic Aitchison College, Lahore, (West) Panjab, Pakistan opened for a religious ceremony for the first time since the 1947 Partition. As no students from the Sikh faith were enrolled at the famous school for the better part of a century, the Gurdwara had remained closed. Current and old students as well as members of the Sikh community attended the kirtan (hymns singing) ceremony as a part of the institution’s 140^th Founder’s Day celebrations. The foundation stone of Aitchison College was laid on 3 Nov 1886 to provide education to the royals and chief families of undivided Panjab. Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, an honorary envoy of Aitchison College said, 'It was a nostalgic moment for me in particular to worship at the same place where my father, grandfather, and great grandfather prayed every evening while they were students at Aitchison College.' Harwinder Singh, who led the kirtan ceremony, remarked, 'What a joy to sing these holy verses at this more than 100-year-old Gurdwara which we had never visited, even though we live in Lahore.' The Gurdwara was designed by Ram Sin­gh, the famous Sikh architect of the then Mayo School of Arts now National College of Arts, Lahore. Its foundation stone was laid in 1910 by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala who studied at the college bet­ween 1904–08. In addition to the Gurdwara, the college also has a pre-partition era mosque and a Hindu temple. Aitchison College Principal Dr. Sayed Muhammad Turab Hussain said, 'We look forward to many more such occasions and hope this promotes communal harmony, mutual understanding, and respect.' Meanwhile, in East Panjab's Mehna village in Moga district, Jagdish Singh and his nephews Shamsher Singh and Rajwinder Singh have donated a piece of land to provide access to the 70-year-old Muslim graveyard that has been lacking a direct path. Additionally, a Muslim family has donated 325 sq. yds. lot of land for the construction of a temple in Jhampur village, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district after local Hindu residents said there was no space available for a religious place. Mohammed Imran Happy Malik, who donated the land, has also decided to bear the expenses of the temple’s construction (earlier coverage).