The Gurdwara Ratan Tala was established in 1932 in the heart of the city but during the government of military dictator General Ziaul Haq in 1984. The Nabi Bux Government College was established in its compound and the area was taken over by the Sindh education department. However, the gurdwara remained untouched and the Sikh community kept performing their rituals until some six months ago when police intervened on the pretext that "college students were disturbed by their worship," according to Sardar Ramesh Singh, chairman, Sikh Naujawan Sabah. Gurudwara Ratan Tala remains the only place of worship for Sikh community in Karachi after a gurdwara in Arambagh was sealed in 1995 after a clash between members of the Sikh and Hindu community.
A representative body of the Sikh community in Karachi, Sikh Naujawan Sabah Pakistan (SNSP), has demanded that Gurdwara Ratan Tala, which they say exists on the property in the name of Sri Guru Sikh Sabah, be handed over to them. The Gurdwara is located on Plot No. AM355 near Preedy Police Station in Saddar Karachi.
Built in the early 20th century in the heart of the city, Gurdwara Ratan Tala is one of three Gurdwaras in the city. The one in Gurdwara Arambagh, which was sealed in 1993 after a dispute between the Hindu and Sikh communities, was opened in 2005 for six months but was again closed. The matter has been pending in court since then.
The only place of worship for the 3,000 Sikhs living in Karachi is Gurdwara Karachi Sikh Sangat, located in the Naryan Pura compound in Ranchore Line.
Gurdwara Ratan Tala holds special significance for Sikhs, which they believe is the place where 250 people of their community were martyred in 1947. However, the building was never used for worship till 2010.
Asked why the Sikhs remained silent over the matter for so many years, Chairman and General Secretary Sikh Naujawan Sabah Pakistan, Sardar Ramesh Singh and Sardar Bhola Singh, said: “We have been struggling to recover the gurdwara, but we never had a representative body to raise the issue, while the leaders of the minorities never took the matter concerning Sikhs seriously.”
Also, there was an element of fear being a minority community, points out Saradr Karan Singh Ray, a member of SNSP. With the permission of MPA and former principle of the college Syed Shakir Ali, some elders of the community entered the Gurdwara in 2005 for the first time and started worship.
This continued for some weeks till a former college principal, Professor Allah Bux Awan, complained to the police that ‘college students were being disturbed by the worship.’
He also requested that the education department demolish the Gurdwara as it was in a dilapidated state. An attempt was also made to demolish the Gurdwara and the Gurdwara is closed since then.
The SNSP members claim that this property is in the name of Sri Guru Sikh Sabah and that the authorities of Saddar Town have documentary proof. A copy of the documents was denied to the group by the DDO Saddar Town Office.
However the SNSP’s claim to the Gurdwara and its compound is substantiated by Nishan Sahib, a flag which marks all religious places of Sikhs, that is visibly engraved on some bricks of the Gurdwara and a remaining section of the old boundary wall.
