Sikh community in Pakistan faces abuse, atrocities: Report

The Sikh community in Pakistan is facing threats, bringing the minority community into the forefront, Khalsa Vox reported

Islamabad: The Sikh community in Pakistan is facing threats, bringing the minority community into the forefront, Khalsa Vox reported, adding that former jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, in a statement, attested to the longstanding persecution faced by Sikhs in the country.

He said this is not a recent phenomenon but a continuous pattern of victimisation. The Sikh community members urged the Pakistani government to intervene and protect its vulnerable minority communities after they received a letter ordering them to convert to Islam or face deadly consequences, Khalsa Vox reported.

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The Sikhs of Pakistan have been living in fear for a long time and are subjected to recurrent persecution and targeting, the report stated further.

The incidents that have unfolded in the recent past show the pattern of threat the Sikhs face in Pakistan, Khalsa Vox reported, invoking an incident of rape from October 27, 2018 “just to intimidate and suppress the Sikh community”.

On January 5, 2020, Ravinder Singh was brutally shot, marking a day of mourning for the Sikhs in Peshawar. Just a month later, in February 2020, a Sikh man was tortured in Punjab, according to Khalsa Vox.

On June 18, 2020, another woman was forcibly converted and stripped her of faith and identity, the report noted. In July 2020, sacred resting places of Sikhs in Lahore were desecrated and their graveyard vandalised, reported Khalsa Vox.

In August 2021, the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore was desecrated, in an incident deemed as disrespectful to Sikh history and heritage.

In another incident on February 15, 2022, Papinder Singh was shot at and gravely injured while a few months later, in April 2022, Mastaan Singh faced a similar fate in Nankana Sahib.

Peshawar continued to be a hotspot for anti-Sikh violence. Two more Sikhs, identified as Kuljeet Singh and Ranjeet Singh, were brutally murdered on May 15, 2022. Later that year, a Sikh woman was raped in Jacobabad, Sindh. Sikh women in a Gurudwara in Sukkur, Sindh were harassed in June 2023, reported Khalsa Vox, noting more incidents. In the most recent incident, Amish Singh in Kandhkot province of Sindh was harassed on July 2, 2023, marking yet another dark day for the Sikh community.

These incidents are a glimpse of the broader challenges faced by Sikhs in Pakistan. It is important for the global community to recognize these infringements on human rights and push the Pakistani government to reinforce measures to protect the Sikh community, ensuring their safety and dignity, the report stated.