Etawah, January 30: The Forest Department has made preparations to use a government bulldozer on the shrine of Shamsuddin, a commander of Islamic invader of Ghurid dynasty Muhammad Ghori, which has been standing for centuries in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh.
Claiming that the shrine’s land is government land, the Forest Department has posted a notice asking for documents related to the land and if failure to produce documents within the notice period threatens legal action.
The Muslim community calls this shrine the shrine of Syed Baba of the Ragged Forest. An Urs is held here annually, and large numbers of Muslims arrive every Thursday to offer their prayers.
The District Forest Officer (DFO) Vikas Nayak stated that information was received that a shrine had been illegally constructed on government land in the Fisher Forest. After receiving the information, a notice was issued to Fazle Ilahi, the caretaker of the shrine, to provide the land documents to the people associated with the shrine. As of January 22, he had not produced any documents.
DFO stated that the notice issued by Forest Range Officer Ashok Sharma gave him ample time to produce the land documents. Due to the failure to produce any documents, demolition proceedings will be initiated against the illegal shrine.
Meanwhile, after learning of the ongoing proceedings at the shrine, members of the Muslim community are outraged. They have gathered and submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate, demanding a halt to the proceedings.
They claim that the Urs ceremony has been held at this shrine for hundreds of years. They visit Syed Baba’s shrine every Thursday to offer their devotion.
According to historians, in 1194, during a fierce battle in Etawah between the Islamic invader Muhammad Ghori and Sumer Singh, the commander of King Jaichand of Kannauj, Ghori’s commander, Shamsuddin, was killed along with dozens of other invaders. Some of them are buried at Bais Khwaja, or Islamic War Memorials. There is no information about how Shamsuddin’s tomb was built in Fisher Forest. The tomb may have been constructed gradually and illegally, as it has changed over time.
This tomb is located about a kilometer down a dirt road in Part Three of Fisher Forest, before the Etawah Safari Park. Not only has an illegal tomb been constructed here, but concrete stairs have also been built to a great height on a hillock to facilitate the visitors.