The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday ordered the provincial statistics department to include the Sikh religion in its population census form.

A two-member bench of PHC, comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan, delivered the judgment after hearing a writ petition filed by the Sikh community on Tuesday.

A member of the statistics department, Habibullah, informed the court that the first phase of the census was already in process, therefore it would be difficult to add the Sikh religion to the forms immediately.

On hearing this, the court ordered that the necessary amendments to the form should be made in the second phase of the census.

Members of the Sikh community had held a protest demonstration in Peshawar on March 20 for being left out of the national census form. They had also appealed to the Supreme Court to order a resolution to the issue.

Holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands, the protesters had shouted slogans demanding the inclusion of a column in the census form for them.

Radesh Singh Toney, the chairman of the Peshawar chapter of Sikh Community of Pakistan, said the federal government had neglected Sikhs in the census form, which had caused unrest among them.

“We are also citizens of the country and have similar rights. If transgender people can get a special column in the census form, then why not our Sikh community,” he asked.

He said that his community was loyal to the country and had played a prominent role in the Pakistan movement, but had been neglected for unknown reasons.