Hindus offered special prayers to celebrate Diwali festival on Sunday in the temple, located in the centre of Peshawar, which is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“We are very happy to celebrate our religious festival Diwali over here. We thank the judiciary and Pakistan authorities who gave us a chance for the grand celebrations,” said Kaka Ram, a 59-year-old civil servant.
Centuries old Goraknath temple in the Gor Khatri area of Peshawar was taken over by police in 1960. The country’s archaeological authorities ordered caretakers to vacate in 2003 for renovation to take place.
But it was never returned to the Hindu community after the work took place. And Ram’s mother, Phool Wati, wrote to former president Pervez Musharraf who called on Peshawar’s High Court to arbitrate.
“After a long court battle, we have been allowed to celebrate Diwali over here but we request to the government to give us complete charge of this temple,” said Ram.
The provincial government said they were willing to hand over the temple to the community but not for control by a single individual.
“The Hindu community has to form a three-member committee to take the charge of the temple,” said Syed Aqil Shah, the minister for culture and minorities in the province, who himself attended the celebration.
Dozens of Hindus dressed in colourful costumes took part in the festival, singing and dancing during the celebrations.
Sikhs and Hindus form only tiny communities in Pakistan. In 2009, hundreds fled their homes after receiving death threats from the Taliban and other militant groups in the increasingly unstable northwest.
