A budget of one crore Pakistani rupees has been allocated to reconstruct the Baoli Sahib Hindu temple in Zafarwal, Punjab province, Pakistan, marking the first phase of restoration 64 years after it became non-functional.
The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), responsible for minority worship places, has begun the project. The temple, which has been inactive since 1960, will now be restored to serve Narowal’s Hindu community, which numbers over 1,453 people. Currently, there is no functional temple in the district, forcing locals to travel to Sialkot and Lahore for worship.
According to a PTI report, the Pak Dharamsthan Committee has been advocating for the temple’s restoration for the past 20 years. Once construction, including a boundary wall on the four-kanal plot, is complete, the temple will be handed over to the committee.
Key figures like Shoaib Siddal, chairman of the One Man Commission of the Supreme Court, and Manzoor Masih, member of the National Commission of Human Rights have played important roles in this effort. The temple’s restoration will finally provide Narowal’s Hindu community with a place to perform religious rituals.
Sawan Chand, president of the Pak Dharamsthan Committee, said the restoration of Baoli Sahib temple would fulfil a long-standing demand of the Hindu community, allowing them to perform their religious rituals at the site
Hindus form the largest minority in Pakistan, with official estimates stating 7.5 million Hindus, though the community claims the number exceeds 9 million. Most Hindus in Pakistan live in Sindh province, where they share cultural ties with the Muslim population.