Click to play videoPakistan is selling off acres and acres of land and this is no ordinary land, but land which belongs to Pakistan's minority Sikh community. The Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board has sold around 150 acres of land in Lahore worth millions at a throwaway price to the Defence Housing Authority (DHA). All this is in clear violation of Pakistan's own regulations.
The Sikh diaspora is extremely upset for under a pact signed by both countries after Partition, it was made clear that religious places of every community would be maintained with sanctity inside the country. The international Sikh community has now challenged the sale in Pakistani courts for this is not the first time that Gurudwara land has been sold off in that country.
Reactions are coming in from Pakistan where the Minority Affairs Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, has ordered an inquiry in the case after CNN-IBN aired the story. The Indian Prabandhak Committee has already written to the Pakistani President on the issue.
The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Talking Point was: Why are Sikh shrines being sold in Pakistan? Evacuee Trust Property Board Chairman, Asif Hashmi and Spokesperson and Media Advisor of Punjab, H S Bains joined CNN-IBN to try and answer the question.
CNN-IBN: Mr Bains, you have been looking at that story. The Pakistan government has ordered an inquiry, but how will the Punjab government follow this up now?
H S Bains: Our options as a state government are very limited and we can only take up the issue with the Government of India. But I look at the issue on a wider scale for this is not an issue only for Sikhs. This is no way to conduct a diplomacy. The Indian diplomacy so far has been to take things lying down and that is why other countries are encouraged to do things like this.
CNN-IBN: Asif Hashmi, please react to the latest development that your country's Minority Affairs Ministry has ordered an inquiry into the contents of the report that have been aired on CNN-IBN.
Asif Hashmi: No one has ordered an inquiry, there is nothing against us for we have not sold even one inch of that land. We are doing a lot for the Sikh community and as far as this land is concerned we have exchanged some land which had been grabbed by different people over the last 60 years. We have now got developed plots against the land which was grabbed, which is worth Rs 1 billion (Pakistani rupees) for the Sikh community here.
CNN-IBN: Mr Hashmi you are dismissing the report, but your own Minority Affairs Minister has spoken to us and said that he has ordered an enquiry into the selling of land.
Asif Hashmi: We are an autonomous body, we are independent, I am the Chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, I am the custodian of that land and I have every respect for the Sikh community and if I sell that land then who can save that land?
CNN-IBN: So how do you explain documents which show sale deeds to the Defence Housing Authority in Pakistan?
Asif Hashmi: When we give some land to the DHA, which was grabbed by some individuals over the last 60 years, then we have to buy these stamp papers, write down the price and exchange plots. We have not got money against anything, we have got plots.
CNN-IBN: So this particular plot of land belonging to the Gurudwara Deh has been handed over to the Defence Housing Authority in Pakistan.
Asif Hashmi: We have not touched any inch of that land. The land which has been exchanged does not belong to any Gurudwara. The land which has been exchanged has been done for the betterment of the Sikh community, which is a very, very good community and extremely loyal. Every Prabandhak committee member is very happy with the Evacuee Trust Property Board. No one has gone to court. Mr Prith Lal of the Prabandhak Committee says that they are all very satisfied for they know that their land has not been sold and no one has gone to the court. These things are not correct.
CNN-IBN: Mr Bains that's the Pakistani viewpoint. They are saying that technically the land has not been sold. The only way to find out more on this is actually on the ground there in Lahore. Will the Punjab government work through the Indian embassy to find out more about this?
H S Bains: We have the Government of India to speak on our behalves. We are not so limited. As far as Mr Hashmi's argument is concerned, I don't see why he should be running away from an inquiry if he is so sure of his facts. The problem with some leaders in Pakistan is that they say one thing and don't take action on it. If he is really so sure that it was not Gurudwara land and that it belonged to some other organisation, then why should he be running away from an inquiry? If the concerned minister has ordered an inquiry, then the done thing for Mr Hashmi is to cooperate with that inquiry.
CNN-IBN: Mr Hashmi, are you ready to allow Indian officials to examine that land?
Asif Hashmi: Yes both the Indian and the Pakistani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committees can do that. The world prabandhak committees can come over here and check that we have not sold even one inch of the Gurudwara Deh land here. The other land which you are talking about has been exchanged for the betterment of the Sikh community. We are doing a lot for the Sikh community here. We are making a Baba Guru Nanak University. We have done a lot of work in every gurudwara in Pakistan. You can see Indian gurudwaras and then you can come and see Pakistani gurudwaras.
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