The clarification followed an uproar over the destruction of the temple at Siraj village, about 130 kilometres from Lahore. Minority representatives and local residents alleged that the structure was deliberately brought down to facilitate expansion of a neighbouring madrassa, while the provincial government maintained that part of the building collapsed after torrential rain on August 21.
The government described the account linking the temple land to the seminary as factually incorrect. It said Punjab Minorities Affairs Minister Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora had visited the site and found that only a portion of the temple structure had collapsed because of rainfall. The government also said it was committed to restoring the damaged section.
Rana Iftikhar, a senior official of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, which administers properties associated with Hindus and Sikhs who migrated from Pakistan, said the temple site had not been leased to anyone and distinguished it from adjoining property that had previously been allotted for a seminary.
“The temple’s land is not given to anyone for lease,” Iftikhar said. He added that senior ETPB officials would decide whether the structure should be restored.
The temple, estimated by officials to be between 100 and 125 years old, occupied about 1,000 square metres in Siraj village. Iftikhar said the shrine carried no name in the board’s record books but acknowledged its age and said heavy rainfall had caused its collapse.
That account has been challenged by minority groups. Aslam Parvez Sahotra, chairman of the Pakistan Masiha Millat Party, has alleged that people linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan demolished the structure and subsequently removed bricks, metal fittings from its shikhar and other material from the site.
Sahotra said he met Punjab’s Additional Home Secretary on August 28 and submitted a written application demanding action against those allegedly involved as well as officials accused of failing to protect the temple. He has also sought reconstruction of the shrine in its original form.
The land dispute is complicated by an earlier lease involving property beside the temple. Sahotra said the ETPB had leased that adjoining land for a madrassa, but the arrangement was later cancelled because rent had allegedly remained unpaid for several years and the premises were not used for the stated purpose.
He cited an ETPB order issued by its deputy administrator in Sialkot on January 29, 2026, which cancelled the seminary’s lease rights and directed the eviction of alleged illegal occupants and sealing of the property. Sahotra said the order had not been implemented.
He also referred to a Narowal police report dated April 11 that, he said, indicated authorities were aware of security concerns around the temple and the possibility of damage. The claim has become part of minority groups’ argument that the authorities failed to take sufficient preventive measures before the structure was lost.
Rattan Lal, a Hindu member of the Narowal District Peace Committee and the Pak Dharam Astan Hindu Committee, has urged the government to restore the temple and act against anyone found responsible for its destruction. He accused both the district administration and the ETPB of failing to safeguard the site or remove alleged occupants from the surrounding property.
Lal said members of the Hindu community were now reluctant to visit the location because of the madrassa operating nearby. His remarks underscored the continuing dispute over access, occupation and control of land around the former temple structure.
The Punjab government, while rejecting the demolition-for-madrassa allegation, also stressed that claims involving places of worship required careful verification because of their potential effect on communal harmony and public trust.
