When Indus water from Pakistan was sought for Somnath temple’s revival in 1951       

Barely four years after Independence, Indus water in Pakistan is said to have been sought for a ceremonial ritual as part of the revival of the ancient Somnath Temple, and the then Indian envoy there had informed New Delhi that “the Pakistan government is not going to take any objection" to it, according to archival documents.

These documents are in possession of the National Archives of India.

According to a recent report in a leading Indian national daily, in February 1951, the head of a then princely state had sent the request to Indian authorities for a few ounces of water from the ‘Sindhu’ (Indus) river from Pakistan to be brought for the ritual, as part of the efforts made by a group of people back in India, to collect waters and soils from various places for the temple-related ceremony.

This happened nine years before the Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in September 1960 in Karachi. The pact has been kept in abeyance by New Delhi following the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Delhi-based National Archives of India (NAI) is the custodian of the non-current records of the government of India and holds them in trust for the use of administrators and researchers.

A letter, dated March 30, 1951, written by the then acting high commissioner of India in Pakistan, Khub Chand, to a deputy secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, is also part of the NAI’s archives.

“The Pakistan Government is not going to take any objection but there is likely to be some comment in the Pakistan Press. This may be somewhat on the following lines:- (a) India ‘pretends’ to be a secular democracy. Yet she indulges in great pomp and ceremony connected with the restoration of a temple destroyed by a Muslim conqueror.

“(b) India has not reconciled herself to Partition. The Indus is no longer an Indian river. It is the lifeblood of Pakistan. The use of Indus water shows that India still considers this river sacred to her," the letter reads.

Chand, in his letter, adds, “This is, of course, a historic occasion for us to be able to restore the Somnath Temple. But, I should personally much prefer if no mention is made of the fact that the High Commission sent the Indus water."

That Indus water was used in connection with the celebration, along with water and soil from various places in the world, “may be modestly advertised if considered desirable".

The Indus river is considered a holy river by the Hindus. It also lends name to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, whose prime sites are located in today’s Pakistan.

It is widely reported that the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, citing India’s secular ethos, had disapproved of the use of public exchequer in the restoration of the Somnath temple, an ancient shrine in Gujarat that is revered by the Hindus.

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