Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh declared as a mosque by government [ Punjab, Pakistan ]

[ Reported as seen ]

On 6 December, 2022, Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh in Lahore was locked down and declared as a mosque by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) of Pakistan.

Reportedly, the controversy over the existence of Gurdwara situated in Lahore has been going on for long. a large number of devotees from the Sikh community attend the Gurdwara daily to recite the Guru Granth Sahib.

located in the Shaheed Ganj Naloukha region, the Gurudwara has been targeted by the radical Islamists since a very long time. It is said to have previously hosted Prince Dara Shikoh’s renowned palace. According to the report, Shikoh served as governor of Lahore before being assassinated by his younger brother, Aurangzeb.

The Gurdwara was constructed in the place where Sikh fighter Bhai Taru Singh was executed in 1745 by the Mughals. The Gurdwara was built on the grounds where the Shaheed Ganj Mosque existed earlier. This has led to the dispute that continues even today. While the Gurdwara was built in 1747, the mosque also remained in place for a long time, while the dispute between Muslims and Sikhs were heard by courts under British rule. But the mosque was demolished by a group of Sikhs in 1935, which led to communal riots.

The Sikhs hold that under the instructions of Mir Mannu, the governor of Lahore and a representative of the Mughal Empire, hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children from the community were massacred at this location.

According to the Sikhs, Mir Mannu personally authorized them to build a gurdwara here after they promised to assist him in the conquering of Multan at the request of Diwan Kaura Mal, who was afterward granted command of Multan by Mir Mannu, according to the story. Muslims, on the other hand, claim that once the Mughal Empire fell, the Sikhs forcibly took over the mosque, which was still operational. It was only after the fall of the Mughal empire that the Sikh empire was established in Punjab.