Sikh Samadhi in Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore

 Within Government Islamia Graduate College, Civil Lines, Lahore, there are three cemeteries (graves) of women of the Sikh royal family. Tourists from all over the world come to see them. It is said that the reason for the deterioration of these cemeteries is maintenance, but it cannot be denied. That these samadhi's were used in different periods as dispensaries, photo estate shops, stores etc. but no attention was given to their repair etc.. Some time ago with Raja Ranjit Singh's wife Raj Kaur's samadhi wall. A man named Abdul Salam who is alleged to be the contractor of Crescent Hostel's canteen committed the unethical deplorable act of installing an iron shed for the purpose of running an illegal canteen and an edge of the iron shed approximately 10 feet long from the top The precious historic wall of the Bari Samadhi was cut and dusted inside it... Now he has removed the shed from inside the wall to move it to another place but left the cut wall in a broken state. (Picture clear) In recent rains, rainwater flowed from this affected area easily into the walls of the Samadhi, raising the risk of collapse of this ancient, historic Samadhi.

The question arises why these historical holy places of the Sikh community were used for aforementioned purposes... And then, after the removal of the iron shed from its wall, why wasn't this man named Abdul Salam asked to repair the wall?

The question also arises that the current in-charge principal of the college, Dr. Akhtar Hussain Sindhu, who is famous for research on various aspects related to Sikhism and comes with the Sikhs who come to the college for the purpose of sightseeing, takes pictures after the pilgrimage of the Samadhis. Why are they silent on the destruction of this wall? Will they now issue orders to repair the affected wall of this Samadhi immediately or will they be blamed by saying that this is the work of archaeologists...?? It should be ordered that Abdul Salam, the person responsible for this act should be repaired properly and the Department of Archeology should file an FIR against the accused person for damaging the historical heritage.. So that this precious heritage can be saved from being wasted and no one dares to cause harm in the future.

It is sad to say that we have no value for the heritage found in our region. Every heir to this region, regardless of religion, is part of our history. Along with the Muslim heritage, we have the historical buildings of the non-Muslim community. We should take great care in this matter..!!