If we talk about the present time of Pakistan, there is a vast history and heritage of Sikhs linked with this country.
Pakistan has importance among the Sikhs due to the founder of Sikhism Religion Guru-Nanak, who was born and buried in the Pakistan Territory before partition.
If we talk about the last population of the Sikh Population, then there are around 50,000 who are currently living in this country around different Regions.
The central provinces where a vast amount of Sikh population lives are KPK, Punjab, and Sindh. If we dig much more in-depth, so the main cities where the high population of Sikh lives is Hasan Abdal, Lahore, Nankana Sahib, and Peshawar.
Although Sikh speaks Punjabi, which is their mother tongue, those who live in other regions except Punjab can also talk in other languages such as Pushto, Sindhi, and Balochi.
History of Sikhism before Partition of Pakistan and India
The 18th and 19th centuries were an excellent time for this community. Ranjit Singh was the Sikh leader of that time, who established his empire in the Pakistani Territory. Currently, his empire is a part of Lahore City.
Lahore is the second-largest city of Pakistan after Karachi. Before partition, the population of this community was spread to 2 million people.
They were the most notable peoples for playing an essential role in the economy with different skills, including business, Farming, and Trading.
Lahore means to be an essential place for Sikhs who live across the world or living in this country because there are some religious and historical places of Sikhs located in this country.
These historical places cover the Ranjit Singh empire, the town Nankana Sahib where Guru Nanak Borne and his nine gurdwaras in Nankana Sahib, and the buried location of Guru Nanak located in Kartarpur area.
Sikh after the 1947 Partition
After the Pakistan and India partition, the minority Hindus and Sikhs who were in the Pakistani Territory were migrated to India, and the Muslims from the Indian Territory migrated to Pakistan.
However, there were still some of them who didn’t accept the migration and remain within their areas. Those of that are still living as a Sikh community in Pakistan and the Muslims in India.
If we consider the largest population of Pakistan in the current times, so most of them found or lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
There has been a large group of Afghanistani Hindu, and Sikh population also made their footsteps in the past 30 years. The reason behind it was the civil war in the Afghanistan territory, which doesn’t provide a safe environment for the minorities to stay there.
As the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan are linked, the majority of the Hindu and Sikh refugees who were living in the cities of Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar moved to Pakistan and made their footsteps to Lahore and Peshawar city.
The Modern Times of Pakistani Sikh Community
Pakistan is a Muslim state, but their constitutions of article 20, 21, and 22 still have functional importance for the freedom of all the non-Muslim communities in the country.
The relation of Muslims and minorities living in Pakistan have a good and understanding relationship since the independence on both political and general basis.
There is a reserved seat for minorities to contest for the prime political seats. According to the law, the voting system is also designated for minorities to vote for minority candidates in the general election.
There is a Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak committee also made with the collaboration of the Pakistani government to maintain and preserve the historical and religious places of Sikh Religion in Pakistan.
How is Sikh Community emerging within Pakistan?
After the partition, the population of the Sikh community gets to a deficient percentage, and the Pakistani constitution stated Sikhism as a monotheistic religion based on it.
If we talk about the current times, Sikh Community is making it so hard to play their essential roles in the Departments of Pakistan to prosper this country.
Since the independence of Pakistan, there was no single person who got registered themselves in the Pakistan army. But, Hercharn Singh was the first Sikh to join the Pakistan Army. It was the first time in the history of Pakistan when a Sikh community Pakistani got selected in the army.
However, the Christian community of Pakistan is already serving in the Pakistani armed forces for an extended period of time. Even, there were different Christians who came to the rank of Major generals in the army, air vice-marshal in the Air force, and rear admiral in the Pakistan Navy.
After Hercharn Singh, there was also the first person found in the history of Pakistan and Lahore when a Sikh individual appointed as a sub inspected in the Traffic police of Pakistan.
Even other personalities like Inspector Amarjit Singh of Pakistan rangers and lance-naik Behram sing of Pakistan coast guard was also found for making their appearance in the Pakistani departments.
After 2007, there was a marriage act, also known as the Anand marriage act, revealed by the Pakistani government. In this act, the Sikh community of Pakistan and across the world can register themselves in Pakistan with this act.
The majority of the Sikh couples from other countries reaffirmed their marriage vows in this Sikh marriage act who comes here as a pilgrim.
Other than that, there were few different notable political personalities that also emerged in the Pakistani Political side. Ramesh Singh Arora was the first Sikh member who becomes a member of the Provisional assemble of the Punjab of Pakistan when he got elected from Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Dr. Suran Singh was also nominated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) in the KPK assembly.
After getting all of the above knowledge, you might get an interest to visit Pakistan and experience the religious and historical places of Sikh Communities. It’s not hard for anyone to visit this country unless he/she gets to know about the best booking app in Pakistan.
Whether you are traveling here for tourism or a religious perspective, it’s better to know about the best travel app in Pakistan so you could explore each and everything by taking or following their services.
