M. Ashraf writes about the lost history of the great industrialist belonging to Sialkot.

Link: https://www.thpsc.com/sardar-ganda-singh-oberoi-idol-impartiality/

Excerpt:

It is a catastrophe of circumstances that a person, who had been so impartial and so generous, is not remembered among people of Sialkot. His factory that had been a monument of pioneer achievements, has not been preserved.

To the best of available information, recorded and authentically quoted, there has not been a single person during the period from 1920 to 1945 who practically served the financial, environmental, educational and social interests of the citizens of Sialkot like Sardar Ganda Singh Oberoi. What is then the justification for not naming the institution or the library both established in his personal property, after his name? It clearly reflects on our overall partiality and prejudice attitudes towards a great personality in the region in that era of quarter a century. Islam does not teach partiality. Islam teaches justice. It is a sign of thousands of years of slavery that the Muslims of the region have learnt hatred and partiality and practically apply it as and when they deem fit.

You visit offices of Sialkot Municipal Committee, you will find senior most employees there refusing to have any record of Sardar’s tenures as chairman. You visit the Allama Iqbal Library on Paris Road, they will tell you that there is no material available with them regarding the life and social services of Sardar Sahib. It has been learnt from a close friend of late Mr. Riasat Ali, the librarian of Allama Iqbal Library, that he possessed a photograph of Sardar Sahib with Maulana Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti along with other dignitaries. That invaluable photograph is now missing altogether. You visit the government degree college for Women, you will hardly find any lecturer or professor who knows the founder of the premises of the educational institution where he is donating his services.