PESHAWAR: Members of the Sikh community on Wednesday filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court against the absence of their religion from the census form insisting the step is a violation of the religious rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The six petitioners, including Charanjeet Singh, Gurpal Singh, Radesh Tony and others, said Sikhism was the fourth largest religion of Pakistan with around 100,000 followers, who were sincere and loyal citizens.

They said there was no mention of Sikhism in the census form’s column seeking information about religion of a person and that those mentioned there were Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Qadiani (Ahmedi), scheduled caste and others only.

The step is a breach of religious rights promised in Constitution, say Sikhs

The petitioners said they were permanent citizens of Pakistan and members of Peshawari Singh Saiwa Society and their religious rights were guaranteed in the Constitution.

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through the interior ministry, chief statistician and chief census commissioner, Islamabad, and provincial census commissioner.

The petitioners prayed the court to issue directives to the respondents to insert the name of Sikh community and religion in the census form.

They have also requested the court to grant them interim relief and restrain the respondents from conducting census to the extent of Sikh community till final decision of the writ petition.

The petition filed through lawyer Shahid Raza Malik states that every religion is mentioned in the census form except Sikhism, which is a religion recognised all over the world.

The petitioners said the origin of Sikhism was in Pakistan and that its founder, Baba Guru Nanak, was born in Punjab.

They said Sikhs from all over the world regularly visited their sacred places located in the country.

The petitioners said the census had been taking place after a delay of 19 years as the last such exercise was conducted in 1998.

They added that the data obtained from the census would be used for distribution of the National Assembly seats and division of financial resources and that the population was also the base for distribution of civil service jobs among provinces.

The petitioners claimed that if Sikh community members were counted under the ‘others’ religion category in the census form, which would not provide an accurate picture of the Sikh population, which was an injustice to the community and deprivation of their rights.

They said Article 25 of the Constitution stated that all citizens were equal in the eyes of the law.

The petitioners said members of Sikh community had also staged protest demonstrations in Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore and other cities against the religious discrimination against them by the state machinery, but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017