Sikhism in Pakistan

Sikhism is a very small minority religion in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan but has many cultural, historical and political ties to the country, and to the historical region of Punjab.

Today, Pakistan, a nation of over 150 million, is 96% Muslim, with Christians and Hindus making up the largest minority faiths, each absorbing about 1.5% of the population. Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, members of heterodox (according to Pakistani law) Islamic faiths and some adherents to animist religions make up the remainder. Information is scarce on minority adherents.

Before the Partition of India and Pakistan

See also: Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947

The Gurudwara Dera Sahib

Prior to the Partition of India in 1947, which divided British India into its successor states of Pakistan and India, Sikhs were spread all across the region of Punjab and played an important role in its economy as businessmen and traders. Lahore, the capital of (now Pakistani) Punjab was then and still is today the location of many important religious and historical sites for Sikhs, including the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh. The nearby town of Nankana Sahib has nine gurdwaras, and is the birthplace of Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak Dev. Each of Nankana Sahib's gurdwaras are associated with different events in Guru Nanak Dev's life. The town remains an important site of pilgrimage for Sikhs worldwide.

This a picture of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib

Exterior of Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Hasan Abdal

After the creation of Pakistan

Nationwide, there are no reliable numerical figures for Sikhs in the country. Estimates vary wildly, from 200,000 nationwide to around 2000 families, with little methodology or scientific technique cited by sources. The largest Sikh population in Pakistan is found in Peshawar, in the Northwest Frontier Province, which was spared the scale of violence during partition that raged in Punjab. Sikhs are also found in sizable communities in Waziristan and Swat of the Northwest Frontier Province. There are also pockets of Sikhs in Lahore, Nankana Sahib, and Hasan Abdal in Punjab, and Gwadar, Kalat, and Quetta districts of Baluchistan. The (West) Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan were mostly emptied of their Sikh and Hindu population in the communal massacres of partition, with nearly all fleeing for India. Today, very large segments of the populations of East Punjab and Haryana states and Delhi in India can trace their ancestry back to towns and villages now in Pakistan, including current Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

There has been a minor influx in the population of Sikhs in Pakistan due to the turbulent civil war and conflicts that have ravaged neighboring Afghanistan. Afghanistan, like Pakistan, has had a very small Sikh and Hindu population. There has been a massive exodus of refugees from Afghanistan into Pakistan during the past 30 years of turmoil up to the reign of the Taliban and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Due to Pakistan's porous borders with Afghanistan, large numbers of Afghanistan's minority communities, based mainly around the cities of Kabul, Kandahar, and Jalalabad have fled, and some Sikhs have joined their kinsmen in Peshawar and Lahore. Others have emigrated to India and abroad.

The Sikh community in Pakistan in modern times

Until today, Sikhs have mainly kept a low profile within the monolithic population of Pakistan. Pakistan, as a constitutionally Islamic state, has had inconsistent and often intolerant relations with its minorities. Until 2002, Pakistan held a system of separate electorates for all its national legislative assemblies, with only a handful of parliamentary seats reserved for minority members. Minorities were legally only permitted to vote for designated minority candidates in general elections. The regime of President General Pervez Musharraf has professed an agenda of equality for minorities and promotion and protection of minority rights, however, the implementation of corrective measures has been slow.

The historical and holy sites of Sikhs are maintained by a Pakistani governmental body, the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which is responsible for their upkeep and preservation. Nonetheless, many Sikh shrines have fallen into disrepair since 1947, as the remaining Sikh population and its corresponding manpower, economic power and political influence is minuscule compared to that of the pre-1947 community.

The emergence of the Sikh community within Pakistan

After the creation of Pakistan, the Sikh community's rights were diminished. Recently the Sikh community within Pakistan has been making every effort possible to progress in Pakistan. For example Harcharan Singh became the first Sikh to join the Pakistan army. For the first time in the 58 year history of Pakistan there has a Sikh been selected into Pakistan's army. Prior to Harcharan Singh's selection in the Pakistani army no individual person who was a member of the Hindu or the Sikh community were ever enrolled in the army, but there are reports which states that the Pakistani Christian community has served in the army and some had even reached into to the ranks of a Brigadier in the army. Moreover, members of the tiny Parsi community have some representation in the Armed Forces. First time in the history of Pakistan as well as in the history of Lahore a Sikh person has been appointed as a traffic Sub Inspector. Dr. Gulab Singh who is just 25 years old, is a practising homeopathic doctor and he is from the same place as Harcharan Singh (Nankana Sahib). Gulab Singh is fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Seraiki, Sindhi, and little bit of English. In yet another contribution to the Pakistani Sikh community, Pakistan Government enacted the Sikh marriage act, Anand Marriage act, in November 2007. This Sikh marriage act allows not only the Sikhs in Pakistan, but also Sikhs living in anywhere in the world to register in Pakistan with the Sikh marriage act. After the success of Harcharan Singh in Pakistan's army and Gulab Singh as a traffic inspector, now its the turn of Kalyan Singh Kalyan who is the first Sikh Province Assembly Member in Pakistan and Kalyan is a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Pakistani Sikh diaspora

According to the Pakistani religious laws that Sikhism is a monotheistic religion and therefore secured from violence beside the government, but the Pakistani Sikhs have to suffer discrimination in their own country. Therefore many Pakistani Sikhs immigrated to the United Kingdom and Canada, there is a growing Pakistani Sikh community in Dubai. In the United Kingdom there are approximately 40,000 Pakistani Sikhs, in Canada around 18,000. The Pakistani Sikh communities are often more likely to be integrated into the Pakistani community life than into the Sikh community, as many Indian Sikhs are patriotic to India, and Pakistani Sikhs often see the Khalistan movement as the most important Sikh movement. Majority of Sikhs see their homeland as Punjab India for the fact there is less persecution there than in Pakistan.

External links

• "Pakistan: Insufficient protection of religious minorities" Amnesty International [1]

• "Time stands still at Khyber Pass" British Broadcasting Corporation [2]

• Asit Jolly, "Sikh Families Escape Afghanistan" British Broadcasting Corporation [3]

• Zarinda Khan, "Sikhs wrap up festivities in Pakistan" United Press International [4]

• Yudhvir Rana, "NWFP Sikhs sore over denial of visas to India" The Times Of India [5]