Members of the Sindh-Balochistan sub-committee of Prime Minister’s Task Force for Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in a meeting held on Wednesday discussed proposals for the maintenance and renovation of the temples and gurdwaras managed by the board in the two provinces.
Last month, the federal ministry of religious affairs and interfaith harmony has formed a 17-member task force on ETPB on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The task force is headed by PM’s adviser Dr Ishrat Hussain while its members included former Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee member Bishan Singh, Pakistan Sikh Council’s head Sardar Ramesh Singh Khalsa, Parliamentary Secretary Mohinderpal Singh, Dr Munavvar Chand, Diwan Chand Chawla, Advocate M Parkash Kumar, Santokh Singh, MPA Ravi Kumar, Bhagat Singh, Jawahar Lal, Abdul Wazid Rana, Bibi Mahin Rehman and Bibi Yasmeen Larry.
On Thursday, the sub-committee of the task force’s for the ETPB for Sindh and Balochistan held its first meeting at the board’s Karachi office. The sub-committee’s members from the two provinces are Diwan Chand Chawla and Sardar Ramesh Singh Khalsa from Sindh and Jawahar Lal and Bhagat Singh from Balochistan. From the ETPB, Deputy Administration ETPB Karachi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, and Tofiq Khokar, assistant engineer, attended the meeting.
Khalsa said that participants of the meeting discussed renovation and maintenance of various worship places of Hindu and Sikh communities managed by the ETPB in the two provinces. “We also discussed non-functioning temples and gurdwaras under the EPTB and suggested handing them over to the communities,” Khalsa told The News.
After the meeting, participants visited the Shiv temple near the Islamia College and reviewed the renovation work there. They also visited a Ratan Talao gurdwara, an ETPB property, which has currently used by Sindh government’s education department.
Khalsa said that sub-committee had recommended handing over the property to the community. Chaula, who is also former member the Sindh Assembly, said that he had suggested building a hostel in Karachi for students from the Hindu community from rural Sindh. The sub-committee will also visit rural Sindh and Balochistan to review the current statuses of temples and gurdwaras. — Report by Zia Ur Rehman