Peshawar:
While troubled events with religious intolerance reported across both sides of the Indo-Pak border highlight the worst side of humanity, a strange street in Peshawar presents a soul-tiring picture of what interreligion’s harmony might look like.
The 200-year-old temple in Gor Khatri, regularly visited by the Hindu community, lies only 50 steps away from Jama Masjid, who is visited by Muslims five times a day for their ward prayers.
Iqbal Awan, a 64-year-old, who lives near Karim Pura, the area possessed by the Hindu society revealed that his ancestors’ home was located near Gor Khatremple.
“Through our business relationship, we have never seen any fight or Krangel near the temple or mosque. At the time of Holi or any other festival in the Hindu community, we would let them use our houses for the festivities and get the streets cleaned.
They would also attend our EID parties, marriages and other apartments. The elders in the inner city and the Hindu society would sit together and talk, ”said Iqbal.
Similarly, Asif Ramesh, a member of the Hindu society who has lived with his ancestors in Gor Khatri, said since the last 60 years, The Express Pakinomist that he visited Gorakhnat temple almost every other day.
“When there is Bhajan in the temple, and Azan is called from the mosque, we make adjustments as a matter of respect. In the same way when our festival is celebrated, the Muslim community never seizes but offers only their cooperation.
I also arrange lighting in the mosques under Ramadan. Our worshipers cannot worship in any country or city in the world with as much freedom, peace and quiet as they can in Pakistan, especially in KP, “said Ramesh, whose family is one of 1,200 Hindu families residing in Peshawar.
Haroon Sarab Dayal, a learned and social leader of Hindu society, revealed that ancient Hindu settlements and temples are still found in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Karak and Peshawar.
“The fact that these 250 to 300-year-old worship sites for the minority community are still preserved today is a solid proof of Hindu-Muslim fraternity. Among all cities, Peshawar offers extremely respect and protection to its minority community.
Although attempts were made to disturb this peace, today we stand with the Muslim community in grief and joy, “exclaimed Dayal.
Speaking of the establishment of a mosque in front of the Temple in Gor Khatri, Noor Khan, who was responsible for the temple and the mosque, The Express Pakinomist, told that in 1641 under King Shah Jahan, Jahan Ara, the King’s daughter, ordered the construction of the Gor Khatri complex.
“However, more than 300 years have passed, even today, all the mosque and the temple respect. When international tourists visit Peshawar, they usually visit this old temple.
The existence of a mosque in front of this temple portrays Interfaith Harmony and sends a positive image of our country to the world, “Khan said.
