Panj Tirath Issue Pakistan: The fundamentalists tried several times to vacate and encroach on the family park and the historic Hindu religious place ‘Panj Tirath Pilgrimage’ located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. An influential person has also taken possession of its building. This matter is going on in the court for many years. On Friday (10 February), a court summoned a top government official after hearing arguments in the land demarcation case related to Panj Tirath.
Panj Tirath, which got its name from the five water pools present there, was declared a national heritage site in 2019 by the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in northwest Pakistan. However this heritage site, with two temples and a gateway, is in a dilapidated condition and is in need of archaeological conservation. Most of its land is owned by Chacha Yunus Family Park, while the buildings are being used as warehouses by the owner of the park.
Hearing in Peshawar High Court on Panj Tirath case
In this matter, a two-member bench of Peshawar High Court heard the arguments on Thursday and summoned the Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar city. According to the report of the news agency PTI, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Director of Archeology Abdus Samad Khan, Additional Advocate General Sikandar Hayat Shah and officials of the Auqaf Department appeared in the court. Where Samad told the court that his department had held several meetings with the Auqaf department and the park administration.
Samad Khan said that some problems related to the case have been resolved, he also said that the issue of land demarcation remains unresolved. As per government records, the total area covered by the Panj Tirath is approximately 14 kanals (1.75 acres) and seven marlas (0.04 acres). However, a large portion is now part of the Chacha Yunus Family Park, which has been leased out by the district government.
Let us tell you that in the Hindu religious place ‘Panj Tirath’, declared a national heritage, there used to be five ponds of the religious place. But, the illegal occupants spoiled the condition here.
much of the pilgrimage land was annexed
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s director of archeology Samad made a statement to the court, saying, “The park administration wanted to give only one kanal (0.125 acres) and 11 marlas to the archeology department, whereas our archaeological site has 5 kanals (0.625 acres) and 11 marlas.” marla (0.06 acres).” The official said that the park administration did not allow the officials to enter the temple through the park. At the same time, the official of the Auqaf Department said, “We need more time to resolve other problems related to land demarcation between the park and the archaeological site, which also houses the Panj Tirath temple.”
Panj Tirath was an important Hindu pilgrimage site in Peshawar.
Panj Tirth was an important Hindu pilgrimage site in Peshawar before 1947. Archaeologist SM Jafar wrote in his book ‘An Introduction to Peshawar’ published in 1952 that, “The Panj-Tirtha (Five Tanks) is one of the places of interest and antiquity. This is the most important site in or around Peshawar, dating to the Buddhist period”. According to a 2019 report in the Friday Times newspaper, archaeologists believe the Panj Tirath has traces of the Buddha’s begging bowl.
King Pandu used to come here to bathe.
It is believed that Pandu, a mythical king in the Mahabharata, belonged to this region and used to come to bathe in these pools during the Hindu month of Kartik (between 23 October and 21 November) and worship under the trees for 2 days. Used to do
The site was damaged during the reign of the Afghan Durrani dynasty in 1747 and restored by local Hindus during the period of Sikh rule in 1834 and worship resumed.
The Directorate of Archeology has asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to vacate the site of encroachment and allow archaeologists to carry out much-needed conservation work. Along with this, there has also been a demand to build a boundary wall around the site.
