Sheikh Rasheed Announces To Donate for Lal Haveli

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Friday while announcing to donate his famous Lal Haveli for university said that he once used to sell books outside the haveli.

Lal Haveli is among the historic buildings in Rawalpindi. The haveli was built by Dhan Raj Saigol who left for India leaving the Haveli to his mistress Budhan Bai and thence it is said to have been the abode of that woman before the independence of Pakistan.

Background of Lal Haveli:

The Lal Haveli has a historical significance as it was built and used by Dhan Raj Saigol, member of a wealthy Hindu family in Jhelum. He made it for his mistress Budhan Bai, a beautiful dancing girl from Sialkot. He gifted this Haveli to Budhan Bai once he left for India some hundred years ago.

Dhan Raj had a mosque and a temple built in the Haveli – the temple for himself and the mosque for Budhan Bai. It remained her residence until before the independence of Pakistan. She left the place when her brother was murdered here.