Sikhs hail Pakistani province court ruling on ceremonial dagger

PESHAWAR: Sikhs in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have welcomed a current court docket ruling permitting them to hold a ceremonial dagger, referred to as the kirpan, in pursuit of an compulsory spiritual apply, however say that the court docket mustn’t categorize the thing as a weapon requiring a license.

Carrying a kirpan is among the many 5 articles of religion in Sikhism, and the Sikh neighborhood has fought — each successful and shedding — authorized battles all over the world to be allowed to bear the thing in public.

Final yr, Sikh social activist Gurpal Singh filed a petition within the Peshawar Excessive Courtroom, requesting that native Sikhs be allowed to hold the sacred merchandise in public, together with in authorities places of work and on public transportation. The court docket this week granted the the correct, however ordered Sikhs to hunt renewable licenses for the kirpan and to pay charges.

“The rationale why I went to the court docket was the deteriorating legislation and order scenario within the province and a prohibition on us to hold kirpan in authorities places of work and town’s mass transit system,” Singh informed Arab Information on Friday, saying that the Sikh neighborhood would not face issues when coming into public locations with the kirpan.

Pakistan is taken into account the birthplace of the Sikh faith. Guru Nanak, the founding father of Sikhism, was born within the small village of Nankana Sahib close to the jap metropolis of Lahore in 1469. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the chief of the Sikh Empire, defeated the bulk ethnic Pashtun tribesmen of the area within the Battle of Nowshera in 1823.

His commander-in-chief, Hari Singh Nalwa, then moved 1000’s of Sikhs from Punjab to Peshawar and its surrounding areas, in what’s present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

Since then, at the very least 500 Sikh households have lived in Peshawar and its surrounding northwestern areas, in response to neighborhood estimates. In recent times, nonetheless, 1000’s of Sikhs from the realm have migrated to different elements of Pakistan or neighboring India out of concern of militant assaults amid an increase in focused killings.

“Folks of our religion have been focused in Peshawar and I took the case to the court docket to make sure their safety,” Singh stated. “They’re all grateful to the Peshawar Excessive Courtroom over its judgment, although they’re additionally damage since they may want a license for the kirpan, which would require periodic renewals.”

Singh stated that he would now method all “related boards” and meet with parliamentarians to foyer for a licensing exemption for the kirpan.

Pakistan’s administration has steadily pledged to safe the rights of minority communities because it seeks to develop spiritual tourism within the nation. It collectively constructed a visa-free border crossing with India — known as the Kartarpur Hall — to permit Sikh pilgrims from the neighboring nation ease of entry to the final resting place of Guru Nanak. The hall was inaugurated in 2019.

Whereas violence in opposition to spiritual minorities, notably Christian and Shia Muslims, has been a painfully acquainted story in Pakistan, Sikhs have lengthy been thought of one of many nation’s most-protected minorities. In Peshawar, they’ve lived peacefully alongside Muslims for greater than 250 years, working principally as conventional healers, and operating pharmacies, cosmetics and outfitters.

However a spate of killings in recent times has raised issues that Sikhs is perhaps the most recent goal of Pakistan’s militant teams, leaving neighborhood members not sure of their future within the nation.

Sikhs weren’t included within the 2017 inhabitants census and there’s no onerous information on their numbers, however social employees estimate that greater than 60 p.c of Peshawar’s 30,000 Sikhs have left for different elements of Pakistan or migrated to neighboring India inside the final six years.

The spiritual group can also be continuously battling the Pakistan authorities for possession of tons of of their temples, known as gurdwaras. Underneath an settlement signed between Pakistan and India after the partition of India in 1947, spiritual lands and temples can’t be bought. However neighborhood members complain that this rule has been violated.

Sikh temples and crematoriums have been disposed off by the Evacuee Belief Property Board, a physique accountable for the upkeep of properties deserted by individuals who left for India throughout Partition.

Talking to Arab Information, rights activist Imran Takkar praised the court docket’s current judgment on the kirpan, calling it “important for citizenship rights within the nation.”

He stated: “All residents have the correct to apply their religion. We should always make it simple for the Sikh neighborhood to try this.

“Pakistan ought to observe the instance of the US and European nations who’ve allowed Sikhs to hold the kirpan.”