LAHORE: The number of Sikhs being displaced in Pakisan by Taliban and being forced to take shelter at Gurdwara Punja Sahib, Hassanabdal, one of the holiest Sikh sites located in the Pakistani Punjab, has swollen to nearly 1,500 as more and more Sikh families flee the trouble-ridden Pak-Afghan tribal belt that has been hit hard by an armed conflict in the North West Frontier Province.
According to the deputy administrator of Shrines Evacuee Trust Property Board, Syed Faraz Abbas, the number of the displaced Sikhs taking shelter in Gurdwara Punja Sahib is rising with each passing day because of the escalating conflict and the ongoing fight between the Pakistani security forces and the Taliban in Buner and Dir districts, forcing over 1500 Sikhs to flee their homes in the Orakzai tribal region due to threats from the Taliban militia either to pay Jizya, a tax imposed on non Muslims, or face the consequences.
Over 300 Pakistani Sikh families have so far moved from the militancy-hit areas of Pir Baba, Buner, Maidan, Lal Qila and Islam Dara of Lower Dir to safer places in the wake of the ongoing military operation. Most of the displaced Sikhs prefer to stay in Gurdwara Punja Sahib instead of going to makeshift camps established by the government authorities with the help of international relief agencies. The displaced Sikhs had been living in the area since long and even after the partition of the sub-continent as they did not move to India and preferred to stay in the area. During all those years, these Pakistani Sikhs, by their own admission, had never faced any problems or harassment from the pushtoon tribes. However, for the past few months, especially after the Most Wanted fugitive Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his men descended on Orakzai agency and established their own rule, the Sikhs there had been living in an atmosphere of fear and fright.
A good number of those who had fled the Orakzai agency had been veritably held at gunpoint by the Taliban henchmen and forced to pay extortion money. The Sikhs were reportedly told either they all convert or they pay the jazia or tax. And this is reinforced by published accounts of some of the Sikh family elders, one of whom was kidnapped and tortured by the Orakzai Taliban. However, the state of Pakistan has chosen to do nothing to take the Sikhs of Orakzai from the clutches of the Taliban. The only concern so far shown by any senior Pakistani official was a visit by the NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and Minorities Affairs Minister Nauroz Khan to Gurdwara Punja Sahib the other day to express solidarity with the Sikh families.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has made elaborate arrangements for the boarding and lodging of the displaced Sikh leaving the troubled tribal region and taking shelter at Gurdwara Punja Sahib. According to Sardar Soran Singh, who oversees the affairs, all facilities were being provided to the Sikh families free of cost. “We will allow them to stay here for as long as they want”, he added.
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