Sikhs plan protest over census omission

PESHAWAR: Malcontent over their omission from the census, the Sikh community of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) is planning to stage a protest in the federal capital with protests already under way in different districts of the province, it was learnt on Friday.

“Every religion is mentioned in the census form except Sikhism, which is a religion recognised the world over, but sadly our government has forgotten us in the most important national event that can change the fate of every Pakistani,” K-P’s Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance President Radesh Singh Tony told The Express Tribune.



“If the government can mention Hinduism, Christianity and other religions, then they could have also added Sikhism but they did not.”

Tony asked, “If they are not adding our community’s name in the census form then how can the government know about the number of Sikhs living in the country?

“It is a conspiracy to create a rift between the Sikh community and the government of Pakistan,” he added. “We will use our right to protest against this act of the government for not giving importance to an important community in the census that can affect our future. We will boycott the census if the government does nothing to safeguard our rights to be counted as equal citizens.



Another member of the Sikh community from Shangla, Harmeet Singh, also voiced his anger saying, “Our religion is directly related to Pakistan, but forgetting us in the census has created a sense of deprivation among the Sikh community of Pakistan, particularly in the K-P because the Sikh population is in thousands in every district.”

He said the origin of Sikhism is in Pakistan as our Guru Nanak was born here in Punjab. Sikhs from all over the world visit their sacred places located in this country but not mentioning our religion in the religious column of the census form is unjust with thousands of Sikhs living in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2017.