Pakistan’s ‘sevadar’: Deputy attorney-general polishes shoes in India
Khan left for Amritsar to clean thousands more.
When he’s not performing his official duties as part of a visiting delegation in India, Deputy attorney-general Muhammad Khurshid Khan chooses to clean shoes at places of worship as “penance for crimes committed by the Taliban”.
Khan, 62, is to clean the shoes of thousands of devotees at India’s Golden Temple in Amritsar in “penance” for the beheading of a Sikh by the Taliban in Peshawar two years ago, reported The Telegraph.
After spending several hours polishing the shoes of worshippers at Gurdwara Sisganj in New Delhi on Monday, where he was part of a Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association delegation, Khan left for Amritsar to clean thousands more.
According to the British daily, Khan began his service pilgrimage after Jaspal Singh, one of three Sikh men kidnapped by Taliban militants in Peshawar in 2010, was murdered. The other two men were rescued by the Pakistani Army.
Since then he has visited Sikh temples or Gurdwaras in Pakistan and India to declare his opposition to terrorism through ‘sevadari’ – service – to other religions.
According to the Times of India, Khan aims to “heal the wounds of minorities in Pakistan by becoming their sevadar (performer of service)”.
Khan said following the killing of Singh, he visited Peshawar’s Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh and resolved to visit other places of worship, including Hindu temples and Christian churches to offer his help.
He visited his local Gurdwara every day for two months, where he read the works of the Sikh gurus and polished shoes.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2012.
Khan, 62, is to clean the shoes of thousands of devotees at India’s Golden Temple in Amritsar in “penance” for the beheading of a Sikh by the Taliban in Peshawar two years ago, reported The Telegraph.
After spending several hours polishing the shoes of worshippers at Gurdwara Sisganj in New Delhi on Monday, where he was part of a Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association delegation, Khan left for Amritsar to clean thousands more.
According to the British daily, Khan began his service pilgrimage after Jaspal Singh, one of three Sikh men kidnapped by Taliban militants in Peshawar in 2010, was murdered. The other two men were rescued by the Pakistani Army.
Since then he has visited Sikh temples or Gurdwaras in Pakistan and India to declare his opposition to terrorism through ‘sevadari’ – service – to other religions.
According to the Times of India, Khan aims to “heal the wounds of minorities in Pakistan by becoming their sevadar (performer of service)”.
Khan said following the killing of Singh, he visited Peshawar’s Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh and resolved to visit other places of worship, including Hindu temples and Christian churches to offer his help.
He visited his local Gurdwara every day for two months, where he read the works of the Sikh gurus and polished shoes.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2012.