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PESHAWAR: Sikhs in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have welcomed a latest courtroom ruling permitting them to hold a ceremonial dagger, often called the kirpan, in pursuit of an compulsory non secular observe, however say that the courtroom mustn’t categorize the article as a weapon requiring a license.

Carrying a kirpan is among the many 5 articles of religion in Sikhism, and the Sikh group has fought — each profitable and shedding — authorized battles world wide to be allowed to bear the article in public.

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

“The explanation why I went to the courtroom was the deteriorating legislation and order state of affairs within the province and a prohibition on us to hold kirpan in authorities workplaces and the town’s mass transit system,” Singh informed Arab Information on Friday, saying that the Sikh group would not face issues when getting 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 hundreds 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 line with group estimates. In recent times, nonetheless, hundreds of Sikhs from the realm have migrated to different components of Pakistan or neighboring India out of concern of militant assaults amid an increase in focused killings.

“Individuals of our religion have been focused in Peshawar and I took the case to the courtroom to make sure their safety,” Singh mentioned. “They’re all grateful to the Peshawar Excessive Court docket over its judgment, although they’re additionally harm since they’ll want a license for the kirpan, which would require periodic renewals.”

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

Pakistan’s administration has often pledged to safe the rights of minority communities because it seeks to develop non secular 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 towards non secular 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 newest goal of Pakistan’s militant teams, leaving group members uncertain of their future within the nation.

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

The non secular group can also be always 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, non secular lands and temples can’t be bought. However group 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.

Chatting with Arab Information, rights activist Imran Takkar praised the courtroom’s latest judgment on the kirpan, calling it “vital for citizenship rights within the nation.”

He mentioned: “All residents have the precise to observe their religion. We must always make it straightforward for the Sikh group to try this.

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