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The Future Of Gurdwaras In Pakistan


chatanga
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Ranjeet Singh did nothing to propagate Sikhi.

Very very wrong.

. If he was really committed to Sikhi he could have implemented Khalsa Raj and converted everybody from Peshawar to Delhi to Sikhi.

He did give extremely liberal endowments to Gurdwaras and Sikh samprdayes to help preach Sikhi though. It might be that in our history no-one gave as much finance/assets as Maharaja Ranjit Singh for the Panth. I haven't heard of anyone giving so much, I may be wrong.

However these conversions could not be done by force could they?

I would have loved to see this as well, the Great Disaster of 1947 would never have happened.

Unfortunately, he was too happy to be called " a secular Maharaja of Punjab" and spent most of hiss time drinking or in the company of harlots like that kanjri called Moran.

He wanted to be seen to be secular for a reason, that Sikhs were only something 5% population in his kingdom. What he did with his wife/wives is no business of yours or mine.

It was not the golden period for Sikhs but a sad tale of missed opportunity.

Very true, Maharaja made some very bad mistakes in his rule, which precipitated the demise of the Kingdom.

If only Ranjit Singh had some love for Sikhi and a modicum of vision then the entire area from Peshawar to Delhi would have been ours and we would have been a force to reckon with in the world instead of being a pathetic helpless minority with a bleak future.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh had a lot of love for Sikhi. Many of the Gurdwaras around Panjab and also Sri Hazur Sahib were built by him. Thousands of people were fed at these Gurdwaras.

The only way the Peshawar to Delhi area could have been ours was to either force the non-Sikh population out, or force them to convert to Sikhi. you could convince a bare 5 or 10% to convert for genuine reasons, but be realistic, Sikhi was in it's heyday at those times, people were embracing Sikhi regularly, but still our population remained small.

You have made a very harsh appraisal of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, which is totally unfair. Unless you would have preferred him to be some kind of aurangzeb type.

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Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of my Guru, is always on my mind. So are the other historical gurdwaras that are crumbling in Pakistan. What is the future of these Gurdwaras?

I have always despised facebook, but have since joined because i saw this guy, Syed Sarmad Sajjad, working for the restoration of these Gurdwaras.

What are the obstacles facing restoration?

What obstacles face the Sikhs after restoration, if we were to acheive it?

What will the Sikhs in 100 years time, feel about us Sikhs today, and our handling of this situation, if the Gurdwaras and their identities were to vanish from the face of this earth?

Get your thinkingTurbans on peeps.

What are your thoughts?

I am going to start with mine. The restoration is definitely possible from a financial point. The main obstacle would be getting the work done. Would it be done as per tradition as Kaar Sewa, or do we get contractors in. IF Kaar Sewa, is the Pakistan Govt going to allow thousands of Sikhs to cross the border to enter West Panjab?

Lets move on a step. Once/if they are restored, who is going to look after them?

Is Parkash going to happen?

What if we western Sikhs. paid Pakistani Sikh families to re-locate to these gurdwaras and maintain them.

But then the question begs, what about the sangat?

What would be the viability of running a gurdwara where the same 4 or 5 people of one family came twice or thrice a day?

Some gurdwaras have been turned into schools, and colleges, some police stations, what are the chances of getting those back? Maybe we would have to purchase them back?

For each gurdwara you would also need a granthi.

What about langar?

To run a gurdwara is not very easy. But what is the alternative for these Gurdwaras?

http://www.facebook....avethegurdwaras

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And this is why Pakistan wasn't needed to be made.. :(

Muslims made the right decision by wanting to have their own country. Nehru's betrayal and Indian leadership's absolute refusal to do something about legitimate Muslim concerns empowered the factions within Indian Muslims who wanted to get a separate land.

Pakistan treats Sikhs very well. Met a couple of apnay sardars from Pak in Dubai--they were really happy and told me great stories of love they get from Muslims.

However, they have concerns about Sikh heritage and especially about Islamic extremism/sectarianism rising in Pak.

Sikhs in Pakistan have their own marriage act recognized in Law, and Sikhism is regarded as a separate, independent, and unique religion of its own. Both of these things aren't present in India.

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I don't think Pakistanis treat SIkhs as well as you say. They probably treat us fairly in cities and big populated areas but I am sure discrimination exists in pinds etc.

I am only telling you what I learned from few Sikhs I met from Pak. Offcourse there are problems, but what I got from them was that Sikhs are treated the best out of all minorities. One Pakistani (Muslim) told me that Sikhs still have it better in Pak than many Muslim groups themselves (Like Ahmadis, Shias etc).

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I am only telling you what I learned from few Sikhs I met from Pak. Offcourse there are problems, but what I got from them was that Sikhs are treated the best out of all minorities. One Pakistani (Muslim) told me that Sikhs still have it better in Pak than many Muslim groups themselves (Like Ahmadis, Shias etc).

Probably firstly because there are so few left that they do not constitute a threat.

Secondly, some pre-partition nostalgia that Sikhs made positive contributions which you don't appreciate once it's gone.

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Probably firstly because there are so few left that they do not constitute a threat.

Secondly, some pre-partition nostalgia that Sikhs made positive contributions which you don't appreciate once it's gone.

May be, may be not. But I am happy that Sikhs are treated fairly in Pakistan and are given more respect by the government as compared to india where Sikhi isn't even recognized as a separate religion and Sikhs marry under "Hindu Marriage Registration Act". In Pakistan, the Sikhi is recognized as a separate religion and Sikhs have their own marriage act under law.

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May be, may be not. But I am happy that Sikhs are treated fairly in Pakistan and are given more respect by the government as compared to india where Sikhi isn't even recognized as a separate religion and Sikhs marry under "Hindu Marriage Registration Act". In Pakistan, the Sikhi is recognized as a separate religion and Sikhs have their own marriage act under law.

The separate marriage act is so that they have one upmanship vs India.

Second reason is that they do not see us as Hindus. India see Sikhs as servants to Hindus.

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