New Delhi, August 23
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee assured the Lok Sabha today that it would take up with Pakistan the illegal occupation of a gurdwara in Lahore by anti-social elements and get it vacated as early as possible.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Shiromani Akali Dal member and former union minister S.S. Dhindsa wanted to highlight the problem through an adjournment motion but the Chair urged him to instead make a special mention of the same.

Mukherjee said he had asked his office to be in touch with the Indian High Commission in Pakistan on the gurdwara issue. "This shrine will be released and unauthorised persons occupying it will be evicted as early as possible," the minister said.

Dhindsa wanted the government to take up the matter immediately as the gurdwara had been occupied by hooligans for quite some time now. He apprehended that if action was not taken immediately to evict the anti-social elements, it might lead to a major controversy, like the Lal Masjid fiasco in Islamabad recently.

Islamabad (PTI): A team of Indian Sikhs will soon visit Pakistan to probe the alleged takeover of a gurdwara in Lahore by Muslim hooligans.

“Members of the Parmjit Singh Sarna Pradhan Delhi Gurdwara Sikh Prabhandak Committee are planning to visit Bhai Taro Singh Gurdwara in Lahore to take note of the government's inaction in handling the situation,” the “Daily Times” reported today, sources said.

“We would also hold a meeting within a week to discuss the issue which is a sensitive one,” Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee chief Bishin Singh said.

Meanwhile, the Evacuee Trust Property Board which oversees the gurdwara has directed officials to demolish 18 shops adjacent to the gurdwara in order to give Muslims a separate entry to the shrine of Pir Kaku Shah, sources said.

However, the leader of the group occupying the temple, Sohail Butt, told the daily that he would resist if the government and Sikhs tried to stop them from entering the temple. “A large number of Muslims want to pay homage to Shah Kaku who was buried on the gurdwara premises daily.”