Tag: Sikhs

  • PM Shehbaz condemns the killing of Sikh citizens in Peshawar

    PM Shehbaz condemns the killing of Sikh citizens in Peshawar

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the killing of two Sikh citizens in Peshawar.

    “Strongly condemn the killing of our Sikh citizens in Peshawar, KP. Pakistan belongs to all its people. Have ordered a high level inquiry to ascertain facts. The killers will be arrested & meted out exemplary punishment. My most sincere sympathies to the bereaved families,” PM said in a tweet.

    Unknown assailants killed two persons of the Sikh community at Sarband area in Peshawar. According to the police, two persons riding on motorbike opened fire on two shopkeepers of the Sikh community selling spices at Bata Tal Bazaar. They succumbed to their injuries on the spot.

    The deceased were identified as Kanwaljeet Sigh and Ranjeet Singh. According to journalist Iftikhar Firdous, the Islamic States Khurasan (ISKP) chapter says it carried out the attack targeting two Sikhs. In October 2021, ISKP also claimed another such attack in Peshawar.

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also condemned the killing of Sikh citizens.

  • ‘Not a film set, apologise’: Fawad Chaudhry lashes out at model for posing at Kartarpur bareheaded

    ‘Not a film set, apologise’: Fawad Chaudhry lashes out at model for posing at Kartarpur bareheaded

    Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhry has lashed out at a model for hurting the Sikh community after she posed ‘bareheaded’ for a clothing ad at the Kartarpur Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

    Taking to Twitter, the information minister wrote: “The Designer and the model must apologise to Sikh Community. KartarPur Sahib is a religious symbol and not a film set.”

    According to reports, the woman who runs Mannat, a ready-to-wear women’s online clothing store in Pakistan, got a photo-shoot done at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib complex in the recent past with the model posing bareheaded with her back towards the Gurdwara.

    In the now-deleted photographs, the woman is seen wearing a red suit posing for the camera without covering her head with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in the background.

    It should be noted that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the single largest representative body of Sikhs, has pasted posters inside the gurdwara complex cautioning devotees not to shoot entertainment videos after a few of them were caught shooting TikTok videos.

    Many have criticised the model and demanded her apology. Former president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Paramjit Singh Sarna said in a statement that this is a “highly objectionable” act that has “severely hurt” the Sikh religious sentiments.

    Sarna said that he would take up the issue with the Chairman of Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board Dr Amar Ahmad on priority and ask him to make the PMU staff aware of the Sikh “rehat maryada” (Sikh code of religious conduct).

    He called upon Pakistani authorities to place written instructions in Urdu about Sikh “Maryada”. He also urged the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) and local authorities in Narowal that visitors to the historical shrine must be sensitised about the Sikh code of conduct applicable at gurdwaras.

    Last week, several Sikh pilgrims visited the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan on the 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

  • India prioritise Hindus and Sikhs for ‘Afghan emergency visas’

    India prioritise Hindus and Sikhs for ‘Afghan emergency visas’

    India’s government said on Tuesday that it would prioritize taking in Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan — a move that drew comparisons to a controversial 2019 citizenship law, enacted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that differentiates against Muslims, reported New York Times.

    The country’s home ministry said it would introduce “emergency visas” to allow Afghans to stay in India for six months. 

    However, it did not say whether Muslims, who make up the majority of those seeking to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban take over, would also be considered.

    “We are in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul,” S. Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, said on Twitter. “Their welfare will get our priority attention.”

    For its part, Pakistan’s leadership has stopped short of hailing the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

    “When you adopt someone’s culture, you believe it to be superior and you end up becoming a slave to it,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday in a veiled reference to the United States and Western culture. “In Afghanistan, they have broken the shackles of slavery,” Mr. Khan said at an appearance in Islamabad, “but the slavery of the mind does not break away.”

  • British PM mocked for confusing farmers protest with India-Pakistan conflict

    British PM mocked for confusing farmers protest with India-Pakistan conflict

    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was labelled “absolutely clueless” after a parliamentary faux pas on Wednesday when seemed to confuse ongoing farmers’ protest in India with a dispute between India and Pakistan.

    British Sikh Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi addressed Johnson during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session about the protests in India, prompting Johnson to give an off-the-mark response.

    “Many constituents, especially those emanating from Punjab and other parts of India, and I were horrified to see footage of water cannons, teargas and brute force being used against peacefully protesting farmers. However, it was heart-warming to see those very farmers feeding those forces who had been ordered to beat or suppress them. What indomitable spirit and it takes a special kind of people to do that,” the opposition lawmaker said.

    “So, will the Prime Minister (Johnson) convey to the Indian Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) our heartfelt anxieties, our hopes for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock and does he agree that everyone has a fundamental right to peaceful protest,” he questioned Johnson.

    Johnson, in his brief response, went on to address a completely unrelated matter instead.

    “Our view is that of course, we have serious concerns about what is happening between India and Pakistan but these are pre-eminently matters for those two governments to settle and I know that he (Modi) appreciates that point”, said Johnson.

    Dhesi, who looked visibly perplexed, was quick to take to social media as he posted the exchange on Twitter, adding: “But it might help if our PM actually knew what he was talking about!”

    Shortly after his comments, Twitter users mocked him for his confusing statement with British member of Parliament Afzal Khan calling it “a new low even for Boris Johnson”.

    “The issue has nothing to do with India and Pakistan. Incredible,” Khan said.

    Another parliamentarian Zahra Sultana pointed out that Johnson seemed to confuse the farmers protest with the international conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir.

    The UK government has so far refused to be drawn into the ongoing protests in India, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) saying the matter of handling protests was an internal one.

    The police handling of protests is a matter for the government of India, an FCDO spokesperson said last week, following a letter initiated by Dhesi and signed by 35 other UK MPs over the issue.

    Meanwhile, Canada has already denounced the use of force against the protesting farmers.

    Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and several other states have been protesting on various borders of Delhi since November 26, seeking repeal of the three farm laws enacted in September.

    Dubbing these laws as “anti-farmer”, these farmers say that the newly enacted legislation would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations. However, the government has claimed that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture. 

  • 200-year-old Gurdwara reopens in Quetta after 73 years

    200-year-old Gurdwara reopens in Quetta after 73 years

    A 200-year-old Gurdwara in Quetta has been restored and handed over to the Sikh community by the Balochistan Government so they can continue their religious practices there.

    According to reports, the historical Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha on Masjid Road in central Quetta had been converted into a government school for girls after the Partition.

    Provincial Parliamentary Secretary for Minority Affairs Dhanesh Kumar said that the historic place of worship covers an area of 14,000 square feet and is worth billions of rupees because of its location. He lauded the government’s decision to “hand it over to Sikh brothers instead of using the building for any other purpose”.

    Chairman of the Sikh community in Balochistan Sardar Jasbeer Singh, expressed his happiness at the restoration and said that it was a “gift from the government to the Sikh community” living in the province.

    “Sikh community of the province is very pleased that our ancient Gurdwara has been handed over to the Sikh community by the Government of Pakistan and the Balochistan High Court after 73 years and now we are able to continue our religious practice,” said Singh. “The Sikh community from all over Pakistan and the rest of the world appreciated this initiative.”

    Jasbir added that there were 10-15 more historical gurdwaras in Balochistan which are still occupied.

    “We are hopeful that the government will focus on opening these closed shrines in shrines in Balochistan.”

    Other Sikhs present on the occasion of the reopening also expressed their happiness on this development. According to details, there are approximately 2,000 Sikh families living in Quetta, Dera Bugti, Osta Muhammad and Pashtun areas of the province.

    Meanwhile, the students of the school have been allowed to take admission in a nearby girls’ school so that their education is not affected by this.

    Earlier in February this year, the Balochistan government handed over a 200-year-old temple to the minority Hindu community in district Zhob.

  • Delhi riots: Indian Muslims put end to decade-old land dispute with Sikhs to thank them

    Delhi riots: Indian Muslims put end to decade-old land dispute with Sikhs to thank them

    Muslim and Sikh communities have decided to put an end to a 10-year-old land dispute that had led to riots in Saharanpur city of Uttar Pradesh (UP) back in 2014 and claimed at least three lives.

    As a gesture of gratitude for the help offered by Sikhs during Delhi riots starting last week, the Muslim community has decided to forego its claim on a piece of land that had been purchased by the gurdwara management and was a bone of contention between the two religious communities of India.

    The dispute pertains to an incident that took place two decades ago when a gurdwara committee in the Kutubsher area purchased land around an existing gurdwara with the objective of expanding the complex. After the acquisition, some old structures in the area were demolished including, allegedly, a mosque.

    Things turned violent when in July 2014 construction work to expand the gurdwara complex began. This led to large scale violence and arson which resulted in the deaths of three people and injured 33.

    The matter subsequently reached the Supreme Court of India (SCI). But now Muslims have decided to forego its claim on the piece of land. Instead, they will be allotted land at another location nearby and the gurdwara management will pay for the construction of the mosque.

    “In view of the great service and support rendered by the Sikhs to Muslims in Delhi throughout the protests and most recently during the riots in Delhi, the Masjid committee in Saharanpur decided to give up its claim over the land as a token of gratitude and thanksgiving,” Nizam Pasha, who represented the Muslim side in the Supreme Court, told The Quint.

    The petitioner, Moharram Ali, has also said that the gesture comes as a show of gratitude for the help and aid provided by the Sikh community to affected families in Delhi’s communal violence. “Sikhs stand for humanity. They help people in need. The helped people affected by the communal violence in Delhi. This is God’s work.”

  • As Delhi burns, Gurdwaras open doors to Muslims fleeing violence

    As Delhi burns, Gurdwaras open doors to Muslims fleeing violence

    As New Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal suggests calling the army amid police’s failure to quell violent communal clashes that have so far claimed at least 20 lives and left hundreds of others injured, Gurdwaras are offering help to Muslim families fleeing violence in the Indian capital.

    According to a report in India Times, members of the Sikh community are not only patrolling with their neighbours of the Indian Muslim community to ensure that no one from outside attacks the latter’s homes, but many Gurdwaras — places of assembly and worship for Sikhs — are also giving shelter to the Muslims of riot-infested Delhi.

    Novelist Nilanjana Roy tweeted that she had come across news from one part of the city wherein a Gurdwara had opened its doors to anyone who needs shelter.

    https://twitter.com/nilanjanaroy/status/1232303148766617601

    Many other people shared similar stories.

    DELHI RIOTS:

    The riots — clashes between anti and pro Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) groups, which soon took a communal colour — that began earlier this week, are the worst Delhi has witnessed in recent years.

    The controversial citizenship law has been deemed discriminatory toward Muslims, against which the Muslim minority community of India has been staging protests across the country since December last year.

    With Hindu supremacist mobs running rampage in New Delhi earlier this week, things escalated quickly.

    Violence broke out in three Muslim-majority areas in north-east Delhi on Sunday and has continued since. Protesters are split along religious lines, and each side blames the other for starting the clashes.

    But the violence has been linked to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Kapil Mishra, who had threatened a group of protesters staging a sit-in against the CAA over the weekend, telling them that they would be forcibly evicted once United States (US) President Donald Trump left India.

    It merits a mention that Trump had been in the country on a two-day maiden visit. When asked about the violence during a press briefing, Trump evaded the issue, saying the incident was “up to India” to handle.

  • UN Secretary-General appreciates Pakistan’s peace efforts

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur and the Kartarpur Corridor on Tuesday during his four-day visit to Pakistan. Minister of Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri accompanied the him on the Kartarpur visit.

    Mr. Guterres took to twitter to appreciate Pakistan’s efforts for peace and inter-faith harmony.

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

    “This is the best symbol that we can give for a world in peace and for a world in which there is mutual respect and there is the acceptance of what is different. Recognising diversity is a blessing, is a richness…not a threat. When we see in so many parts of the world fighting in the name of religion, it is necessary to say that religions unite us for peace and the best symbol is this [Kartarpur] shrine,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

    Earlier, the UN Secretary-General visited Lahore and administered polio drops to children in a local school.

  • Lahore is the capital of Khalistan: Google

    Lahore is the capital of Khalistan: Google

    In yet another faux pas, Google now says that ‘Lahore’ is the capital of Khalistan — a seperate country that Indian Sikhs seek as their homeland in the Punjab region of eastern Pakistan and western India.

    An Indian Twitter user attached the screenshot of the Google search declaring Lahore as the capital of Khalistan state with a blue-saffron flag and a ‘Khanda’ insignia of Sikhism on it.

    Indian media went into haywire following the circulation of the images, saying that Google search had “substantiated its accusations on Pakistan for fanning and supporting the separatist movement”.

    “The new state created would be called Khalistan in the modern territories of Eastern Pakistan and Western India. Its stated capital would be Lahore, a city where the Sikh empire was commenced by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and ruled for centuries by his descendants,” one of the search results read.

  • Indian Sikh donates 900sq ft land for mosque after Kartarpur opening

    An Indian Sikh has donated his 900 square foot (sq ft) land for the construction of a mosque in celebration of Sikhism founder Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary and Pakistan’s inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate Indian Sikh pilgrims.

    According to media reports, the 70-year-old merchant, Sukhpal Singh Bedi, who is a resident of Purkazi town of Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), has said that the gesture is a tribute to Baba Guru Nanak’s teachings of peace and love.

    “Bedis, originally hailing from the Bedian town near Lahore, are the direct descendants of Baba Guru Nanak and so I feel it was my responsibility to make an example by following his teachings,” he reportedly said, hoping that the gesture will foster communal union in the area.

    He had handed over the documents of the land to Zahir Farooqui, the Nagar Panchayat chairman, who has thanked Bedi on behalf of the Muslim community.

    AYODHYA DISPUTE:

    The development comes days after the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict in the historic Ayodhya dispute case. Putting to rest the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, the Indian Supreme Court had on November 9 decided in favour of Hindus as it allotted Ayodhya land to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (Ram Birthplace Trust).

    Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas is an organisation to promote and oversee the construction of a temple in Ayodhya at the Ram Janmabhoomi, the reputed site of the birth of Rama, the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Hindu God Vishnu.

    With a five-judge bench pronouncing its unanimous judgment that was reserved last month on the Ayodhya case involving the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, it ordered allotment of five-acre alternative land to Muslims for setting up of a mosque while deciding in favour of Hindus.

    The ruling said the Indian government will formulate a scheme in three months to set up a board of trustees for the construction of the temple at the disputed structure.

    “This court must accept faith and accept the belief of worshippers. The court should preserve balance,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said while reading out the judgement.

    The court said Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born under the dome, adding that faith is a matter of individual belief.

    It said there is evidence that Ram Chabutra, Sita Rasoi was worshipped by the Hindus before the British came. The court said evidence in the records shows that Hindus were in the possession of outer court of the disputed land.

    “Arguments were made on archaeology report. Archaeological Survey of India’s credentials are beyond doubt and its findings can’t be neglected,” the court said.

    The court said that titles can’t be decided on faith and belief but on claims. The judgement stated that historical accounts indicate the belief of Hindus that Ayodhya was the birthplace of Lord Ram.

    The Indian SC dismissed the plea of Shia Waqf Board on a claim to the Babri Masjid, saying there was no evidence that Muslims abandoned the mosque. Hindus always believed the birthplace of Lord Ram was in the inner courtyard of the mosque, the verdict added. 

    According to the court, it is clearly established that Muslims offered prayer inside the inner courtyard and Hindus offered prayers in the outer courtyard.

    Ahead of the verdict, appeals for peace were made by the Hindu and Muslim organisations and various political leaders, including Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.

    Meanwhile, Delhi Police said it will initiate strict legal action against mischief-mongers or those found indulging in any activity that may adversely affect peace and public order.

    “Activities on social media platforms will be under observation,” said the police.

    Earlier, authorities banned the assembly of more than four people at one place in and around Ayodhya, a town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh while the government ordered all schools and colleges to remain closed until Monday.

    BABRI MASJID DESTRUCTION:

    Babri Masjid was a mosque in Ayodhya, India. Located in Ayodhya district, at a spot believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama, it has been a bone of contention between the Hindu and Muslim communities since the 18th century.

    The destruction of the mosque in 1992 sparked massive Hindu-Muslim violence that left around 2,000 people dead.

    Hindu hardliners say the mosque was built after a temple dedicated to the Hindu god was destroyed by Muslim invaders. After the demolition of the mosque, Hindus and Muslims took the issue to a lower court, which, in 2010 ruled that the disputed land should be divided into three parts — two for Hindus and one for Muslims.