Pak's first Sikh police officer thrashed, forcibly evicted from house

Pakistan’s first Sikh police officer has claimed that he was forcibly evicted from his home in Lahore along with his children and wife, following a property dispute with the government.

Gulab Singh Shaheen in a video said that on Tuesday he was evicted by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the parent body of Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee from his home in Lahore’s Dera Chahal village, which is situated about 28 kilometres from Lahore, Daily Pakistan reported.

“My turban was forced open and hair was untied,” Singh said in one of the videos he shared on Facebook.

In a video, Singh can be seen pleading to police to give him “at least 10 minutes” to be in the place where they have been staying since 1947.

Singh, later, told the media that ETPB secretary Tariq Wazir thrashed him.

In 2011, Gulab Singh had filed a case against Syed Asif Akhtar Hashmi for illegal selling of the Gurudwara property, the report said.

In February 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan held Hashmi, then Chairman of the ETPB, responsible for illegal selling of Gurudwara lands.

On the other hand, the ETPB maintains Gulab Singh had illegally occupied the ‘Langar’ hall of Gurdwara Janum Asthan “Bebe Nanaki Dera Chahil”, which was vacated by an anti-encroachment team on Tuesday.

After a complete inquiry, ETPB secretary Muhammad Tariq Wazir constituted a team which got vacated the hall with the help of police, the board said in a statement, adding that the Sikh community has “appreciated” the ETPB step.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board, established in 1960, is a statutory body of the government of Pakistan, which administers evacuee properties and shrines of Hindus and Sikhs attached to religious, charitable or educational trusts, left behind by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India after 1947 partition of India.

Photograph: ANI/Twitter