RAWALPINDI: The ownership of a sealed temple in Gawalmandi has become the subject of a dispute between the Hindu community and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), following alleged attempts to convert the place of worship into a commercial plaza.

The Swami Narayan Temple, located in Gawalmandi`s main square, is a single-storey building spread over more than 10 marlas, with three open sides. It is located in front of the local Jamia mosque, near the area`s Eidgah.

According to the Hindu community, the temple is a religious site and was used as place of worship two decades ago, before its caretakers converted to Islam.

However, ETPB has declared the site to be a residential building, allocated to the couple who converted to Islam.

According to Jag Mohan Arora, president of the All Pakistan Hindu and Sikh Welfare Council: `The couple, Babu Lal and Shakuntala Devi, were residing in the temple as its sewa dar with the permission of the Hindu community. But af ter converted to Islam...

they moved the court for the possession of the temple, and only withdrew the case last month.

`ETPB North Zone is changing the status of this place of worship. They will award tenancy to Shakila Bibi [Shakuntala Devi`s Muslim name] while she plans to transfer the land to someone else, who will demolish the building and convert it into a commercial plaza,` he said.

`Under the law, the status of a place of worshipcannot be changed. Swami Narayan Mandir, property number 4316, Gawalmandi, was under the control of the Hindu community of Rawalpindi. It was granted to the Hindu community in 1949 by the local administration. All Hindu religious festivals had also been celebrated at this mandir for the last several years.

`In 1992, the couple who were assigned to take care of the premises converted to Islam and adopted the names Abdul Hameed and Shakila Bibi.

Since they converted, they also lost their moral right to reside inside Swami Mandir. However, they have refused to give up possession, and may take over the property with help from some of their Muslim neighbours,` Mr Arora claimed.

He said the ETPB was being very unfair to the local Hindu community.

`The temple was sealed [in 1992] and not handed over to the Hindu commu-nity, despite clear directions from the federal ombudsman on Sep 9, 1996.

After the caretakers converted, the local Hindu community sent a delegation to meet then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto and asked her to have the temple released to the Hindu community.

Ms Bhutto is said to have referred the matter to the Federal Ombudsman, who ordered the ETPB to hand over the temple to the Hindu community for its management and protection.

He said the Hindu community had twice written to ETPB chairman Siddiqui Farooq, but received no response.

Official denial ETPB Rawalpindi Region Administrator Tanveer Ahmed denied the allegations levelled byMr Arora and the Hindu community, saying the board had no plans to convert the site into a commercial plaza.

However, he said, according to documents available with ETPB, the site was not a temple. `It was a residential area, and different religious functions were held in the past in a private house,` he said.

`There is no plan to change the purpose. The Hindu community has a place of worship in Saddar known as Krishna Temple,` Mr Ahmed told Dawn when asked about the alleged conversion of the land.

He said the old lessees would be awarded the new contract, as per the law. `In the past, some people wanted to convert the area into a temple as the Hindu residents converted to Islam. We have informed the ETPB head office about the status of the site,` he said.