Browsing Tag: Pakistan

A Sikh jatha, comprising more than 2,000 members, that had gone to Pakistan to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev returned on Tuesday.

Another breathtakingly beautiful structure is the Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Abbottabad, which has on its premises a large rock bearing the mark of a palm believed to have been left by Guru Nanak. Every April, the Baisakhi Fair attracts a large number of Sikhs, from home and abroad.

“In our hearts is the thirst for education,” one 14-year-old told reporters brought to her classroom by the Pakistani military’s public relations wing Monday. “We want to show the world that we are not worried.”

Photographer Poulomi Basu said she got the idea after reading a newspaper article in 2009: India for the first time was recruiting women to serve in its Border Security Patrol, training them to police the country’s long and dangerous boundary with its archenemy, Pakistan.

The clamour over Pakistan fanning communal passions in India through social networking sites has missed a crucial detail. Around 20% of the web pages — blocked by government agencies — were uploaded by right-wing Hindu fundamentalists seeking to polarize the country on communal lines.

“The major reason for our defeat are Sikhs. We are simply unable to do anything before them despite our best efforts. They are very daring people and are fond of martyrdom. They fight courageously and are capable of defeating an army much bigger than them.”

“Thirty years is a long period and precious time for each and every individual,” he said. “Forget about Surjeet. Think from the angle of humanity and being sensible. His life has almost, you can say, been spent in jail. What a pity it is?

“I wanted to tell the world that I am a Pakhtun, I am a Muslim, I am a Pakistani but I am not a terrorist. I want to tell the people that what they hear about Muslims and Pakhtuns is not true” - Khurshid Khan, Deputy Attorney General, Pakistan

The U.S. Consulate General Karachi hosted an inter-faith conference that brought a Muslim Mufti, a Catholic Bishop, and the Sikh Representative founder of the Pakistan Sikh Council, Sardar Ramesh Singh, Michael Javid former MPA Sindh with over 100 male and female students of different faiths.

“The government has set up ministry for inter-faith harmony in order to bring closer the various communities in the country”, he said during a meeting with the Sikh yatrees delegation which called on him at the Governor House here Tuesday.....

Some 3,000 Sikh pilgrims are expected to arrive in Pakistan from India and other parts of the world to participate in the 10-day annual Baisakhi festival starting from April 10 and authorities have completed arrangements to host them.

PAKISTAN PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari and Dr Manmohan Singh will have plenty to discuss, from trade to Hafiz Saeed – a last-minute addition but an important one – during their lunch on April 8. It is believed that the issue of easing the bilateral visa regime, especially for the business community, is likely to be high on the agenda.

Representatives of various religious communities pledged to plant trees in their neighborhoods and also in their houses of worship, while speaking at a seminar on Sikh Environment Day.

Pakistan's deputy attorney-general is to clean the shoes of thousands of devotees at India's Golden Temple in Amritsar in 'penance' for the beheading of a Sikh in Peshawar two years ago.

Such is the price of what Swati Ramanathan calls “retail corruption,” the sort of nickel-and-dime bribery, as opposed to large-scale graft, that infects everyday life in so many parts of the world.

Carrying with them boxes of shoe polish and brushes, members of Nankana Sahib Sikh Yatree Jatha are all ready to visit gurdwaras in Pakistan. This is one of its kind jatha that takes positions in Pakistan gurdwaras on various Sikh religious occasions, and had been doing the free shoe keeping and shining service for nearly 11 years.

“We currently have no representative in the National Assembly or in the Sindh Assembly,” explained the chairman of the Sikh Naujwan Sabha Pakistan, Sardar Ramesh Singh, while talking to The Express Tribune. This is one of the points they brought up at the meeting. One of their demands is that a seat be reserved for Sikhs in the upcoming senate elections.

Yesterday after almost five years 179 fisherman and four others were released from the Central Jail-Lahore. This is an iconic victory for Sikh man Satinder Paul Singh, whom his family did not even know was alive until the intervention of a British lawyer. The other prisoners released were Sanjeet Kumar, Nasim and Sama Yousaf

The dark practice of forced marriage, a 21st century anachronism that is prevalent in Britain among mainly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, has just been thrown its stiffest challenge yet. The provincial government of Scotland has enacted what must rank among the strongest anti-forced marriage laws in the world.

During his first ever visit to a Sikh congregation, He stated, “If we are looking for a model, Guru Nanak gives us the best model in the 21st century. I feel a great sense of pride in figures like Guru Nanak from South Asia who brings us together and tell us to hold on to the concept of unity of God.”

As many as 2,500 Sikh pilgrims left for Pakistan on Tuesday to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib.

Despite regular Amritsar-Lahore bus service, not a single Sikh devotee from holy city on Tuesday boarded the bus for pilgrimage to Nanakana Sahib to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, due to police vetting and other formalities required to undergo before boarding the bus.

Our subcontinent needs to follow the footprints left behind by the great poets, sufi saints and the bhakts who preached and practised love and inclusiveness. This is the land of Tagore and Ghalib, of Bulleh Shah and Kabir, of Nanak and Moinuddin Chisti. It is their spirit that will guide us in this journey.

The government and the Hindu community were unable to break their deadlock over the divorce clause in the Hindu Marriage Act. The clause has proved contentious since the bill was drafted in 2008, with the government defying Hindu leaders who believe divorce is not part of their religion’s culture.

Somebody has given the governments of India and Pakistan the strange idea that preventing their citizens from visiting each other and not letting divided families meet will resolve the Kashmir dispute and prevent terrorism.

Saragarhi, in comparison is a greater feat of bravery considering the odds ……one Sikh to a thousand tribals. Unfortunately, human memory is short and today nothing is known about their descendants…….an outright disgrace. Tracing their descendants should not be difficult as 113 years is but a flash of time where history is concerned.

So why I have felt like sharing such a personal story with my friends today? It made me think of the Partition and the reasons for which Pakistan was made. I am at a loss when I see our 17 year old friendship.

“We are thankful to United Sikhs and the Bangkok Sikh Community who remembered Pakistani brothers during these trying times and friendly gestures would never be forgotten... and we hope that community will further support flood victims in this in such dire conditions...”

Pakistan's new Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar met her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna in New Delhi in an engagement that saw no major breakthroughs over outstanding disputes but a commitment to pursue dialogue.

The dozens of male and female Sikh Yatrees from London-UK, India and Canada visited their native houses in Sialkot and surrounding areas amid tight security to refresh their pre-partition memories. They also met with their old friends and their children and distributed sweets and exchanged gifts with them.