Sikhs Living In Pakistan

[Chind]

HAs anyone ever come across any Sikhs living in Pakistan?

I've heard that they don't get treated to well there and that also they are just converts from Islam ?

Has anyone ever met these brother or sisters from Pakistan ? I've met plenty of Afghanisthani Singhs however!

[Deep Singh]

nah mate i haven't met them.

but a pakistani guy told me that when he went to Peshawar in Pakistan, he saw lots of Sikhs there. And when he went to the market, he was shocked to see them. But the normal people who lived there were used to it, and for them they were like 'just some guys on the street'. so his impression was that they were fit in the society. they have special kind of language, speak like the native Pakistani dialects, just as Sikhs outside Punjab in India speak the langauges around them, etc. But they know how to read Gurmukhi.

There is a Sikh in Pakistani Parliament, his name is Sirdar Gyan Singh. Around Nankana Sahib area there is a Sikh school, also Muslim children go there....Gurmukhi Punjabi is thought there.

but there is still discrimination. in backward areas. in Sindh area there are about 1-2 million hindus, some Sikhs aswell. they have little rights, i have heard.

[Chind]

Thats really intresting.... you see the dialects that sikhs from Afghanisthan use are very strange.... and they look different from Punjabi Sikhs also......

I suppose that's got a lot to do with climate etc .....

I've heard that there are a lot off rich Sikhs in Pakistan and have good busineses there also....

[10th regiment]

i think the 1-2 million sindhi hindu estimate is grossly wrong

some afghan sikhs eat halal meat and also marry their cousins like some muslims do

some of them are converts from islam from the time hari singh nalwa conquered all the way upto jamuraud

there is no decent estimate of how many sikhs there are in pakistan since the census are all rubbish

[Guest mehtab]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

I had been chatting to a Singh from Pakistan who was born into a Hindu family and then got into Sikhi. He didn't have any sangat and was desperately looking for some. He doesn't come online anymore. Hope things are ok with him.

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

[>Bikramjit Singh<]

i think the 1-2 million sindhi hindu estimate is grossly wrong

some afghan sikhs eat halal meat and also marry their cousins like some muslims do

some of them are converts from islam from the time hari singh nalwa conquered all the way upto jamuraud

there is no decent estimate of how many sikhs there are in pakistan since the census are all rubbish

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

There is about 2 million non-Muslim Sindhis in Pakistan. They are classified as Hindus by the Pakistani government but many are Sehajdhari Sikhs. Because these Sindhis have not been influenced by the RSS/Arya Samaj they still have great regard for Guru Nanak. During British times it was said that there were two religions in Sindh, Sufism and Sikhism. These Sindhis today have a great many small Gurdwaras in their villages and on Gurpurbs many travel to Nankana Sahib as well as the other main Sikh Gurdwaras in Pakistan.

As for Afghani Sikhs, they are not converts from Islam but descendents of the Sikhs who travelled to Afghanistan during the times of Guru Nanak as traders and set up sangats there.

Here are some news stories about Sikhs in Pakistan

================================

Maryada may be in danger, but Sikhs are special in Pakistan

Varinder Walia

THE numerical stren

gth of the Sikhs in Pakistan is almost insignificant. Less than 50,000 of them are spread over East Punjab, Peshawar and other parts of the country. Owing to the unfavourable state policies of Pakistan towards minorities, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians barely get absorbed in government jobs. As a result, literacy among Pakistani Sikhs and Hindus is extremely low. Most of the Sikhs, who are engaged in petty trade, do not send their children to schools. Sikhs, however, enjoy ‘more liberty’ than the Hindus due to the ‘hidden agenda’ of Pakistan. Hindus who met this correspondent in Pakistan expressed their anger and helplessness over the abduction of their girls by Muslim youths. Sikh girls, however, are spared this humiliation — only two Sikh girls have been abducted since the Partition.

Pakistani Sikhs, no doubt, had taught Gurmukhi to their children so that they could recite the holy scriptures but hardly any member of this community has enrolled in a college or a university till recently. However, with globalisation of education, an awakening has been witnessed among Pakistani Sikhs. Gulab Singh, a resident of Nankana Sahib, is doing his graduation from the Homeopathy College, Lahore. Other residents of the same town, Mimpaul Singh and Kalyan Singh, are also pursuing their studies. The former is in the final year of MBBS at the Lahore medical college, while the latter has got admission in LL.B. Kanwal Kaur from Lahore is a known poetess of Pakistan who writes in Punjabi as well as Urdu.

At the time of the Partition, most Sikhs and Hindus who were doing brisk business at Lahore were either massacred or were forced to migrate to India. However, it is for the first time after Partition that Hamir Singh opened a cloth shop in Gulbargh, a shopping centre of Lahore, last year.

The Sikhs of Peshawar, who are known for their small-time businesses, have for the past couple of years started sending their wards to colleges and universities. Rajan Singh of Peshawar is well versed in computer

engineering and is bringing out a magazine, Khalsa Times, in Punjabi, Urdu and English. Another Sikh from Karachi, Anil Singh, is doing MBBS in Karachi, while his two sisters are also into the same profession. Interestingly, Pakistani Sikhs are taking part in sports and cultural activities too. They have even formed their own cricket team. Kalyan Singh, a young boy of Nankana Sahib, has acted in a number of feature films and one-act plays. He has featured in movies like Laila Majnu, Kuri Panjaban and a play named Kesri Painda on Punjab problem, produced by Niaz Mohammad.

The co-chairman of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee ( PSGPC) said Sikhs in Pakistan do not want to get absorbed in government jobs as trade or business has always been their first preference. He said that though Gen Pervez Musharraf had offered to make his son Sikandar Singh a lieutenant in the Pakistan army, he had politely refused as he wanted to start an agro-based business.

The importance given to Sikhs in Pakistan has started bringing their Hindu brethren into the Sikh fold. Though Sindhis are dedicated followers of Guru Nanak Dev and accept the Guru Granth Sahib as their holy book yet some of them converted to Sikhism owing to the ‘special treatment’ given to the community by the Pakistan government. Hindus do not have any top leader to protect their human rights in Pakistan.

Child marriage is prevalent among both Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. Charanjit Singh from Peshawar said due to the marginal strength of both communities, they are compelled to marry their children with cousins. The scope of marriages could be broadened if both India and Pakistan allowed their Hindus and Sikhs to get married in each other’s countries.

The condition of most of the Sikh shrines in Pakistan continues to be deplorable, the tall claims of the PSGPC notwithstanding. After the formation of the committee on April 11, 1999, a few gurdwaras out of about 175 have been given a facelift with a grant of Rs 1.5 crore. Though

the PSGPC must be given credit to give a new look to Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda and Gurdwara Dera Sahib, the management has miserably failed to maintain the maryada in the shrines. I saw siropas (robes of honour) being presented to senior police officials at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib by PSGPC president Sham Singh in gross violation of the maryada (Sikh code of conduct). Tiny shops were allowed to operate day and night within the complex of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. The main gate of Gurdwara Shaheed Daleep Singh was being used for ironing clothes. Many gurdwaras did not have parkash of the Guru Granth Sahib. Gurdwara Diwan Khana, Chuna Mandi, Lahore, which is in a dilapidated condition, has a toilet constructed by a Muslim caretaker inside the parikarma of the gurdwara. Such an aberration was also seen in Gurdwara Bhai Taruji, Lahore. You even find Pakistanis dance to popular filmi songs when Sikh jathas visit Pakistan. The purpose of having the PSGPC stands defeated if it cannot restore the maryada of Sikh gurdwaras in Pakistan.

===============================

[Deep Singh]

thanks! i knew i had read somewhere that there were 1-2 million Sindhis who were non-Muslim. And to get the facts rights: Christians are planning to start a mission among these people also!

[Bhullar]

Christians are planning to start a mission among these people also!

Any articles or addition info, etc.?

Thanks!

[Chind]

Hey pajii that was a great article!!! Anymore info on this subject......

Pictures of familys etc... has anyone ever been to Pakistan ?

Why aren't the Hindus getting as much protection as the Sikhs ?

I see Sikhs making a name for themselves in Pakistan.

[>Bikramjit Singh<]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

Here are some pics of Pakistani Sikhs

Afghani Sikhs outside Sacha Sauda Gurdwara

Pakistani Sikh greets his Indian Sikh relative at Wagha border

Two Pakistani Sikhs in west punjab gurdwara

GurFateh

Bikramjit Singh