Life returns to normal in Nankana

By Anjum Gill and Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: Life returned to normal at Nankana Sahib on Tuesday after the Saturday attack on the Guru Nanak Janam Asthan Gurdwara by local college students.

An angry mob of citizens and students attacked the temple on Saturday in protest against a committee’s recommendation that the Punjab government should return the Guru Nanak Degree College building to the Nankana Sahib Trust to accommodate Sikh pilgrims. A Sikh said that the Evacuee Property Trust Board has repaired all the property damages. The utility departments along with the board have installed new electricity meters and restored telephone wires. “Things are normal, as they were in the past,” the Sikh said.

“There are 700 policemen in Nankana Sahib. The real culprits who provoked the students have disappeared and the raids for their arrests are still going on,” a source told Daily Times.

The Punjab government has formed a committee to investigate the matter and its findings will be submitted to the chief minister of Punjab, Pervez Elahi, within three days, sources said. The committee visited Nankana Sahib to gather facts yesterday. The committee consists of MNAs, Rai Mansab Ali Khan, Malik Zulqarnain Dogar, the tehsil nazim of Nankana Sahib, Pir Mumtaz Ali Shah, the district coordination officer of Sheikhupura, Tariq Najeeb and Professor Ghulam Rasool Azad.

Mastan Singh and Naam Singh, members of the Janam Asthan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, came to Lahore on Tuesday and received the former chairman of Delhi Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Paramjeet Singh Sirna and four other Sikh members. The Indian Sikhs have come to Lahore to inquire about the incident at Nankana Sahib and to see the arrangements that are being made for the anniversary celebrations of Guru Ram Das.

For the first time in Pakistan, a group of Sikhs from Delhi will participate in the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Ram Das, the fourth guru of Sikhism, at Chuna Mandi Gurdwara, Lahore. Guru Ram Das was born in Lahore. The celebrations will start in four to five days.

About 150 to 200 Sikhs from India alone are expected to participate in the Guru Ram Das birth anniversary celebrations. Sikhs are also expected to come from other parts of the world for the celebrations. “The leaders are telling the Indian delegation that it was just a minor incident and things are completely under control,” a Sikh said. “The number of visiting jathas (groups) could decrease after this incident.”

However, the Nankana Sahib police took a new position on Tuesday, as the duty officer Mohammed Bashir said that no case had been registered against the suspects and thus no arrests have been made. “What arrests?” Mr Bashir inquired, “There is no FIR.”

The station house officer (SHO), Abdul Ikram, refused to comment. Yesterday, Mr Bashir said that the First Information report (FIR) had been registered and sealed by SHO Abdul Ikram. The Sikhs, however, insisted that a case had been registered.

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