Mingora, Oct 3 (IANS) The Sikh community in Pakistan has raised a demand for a religious school for their children to impart them knowledge of ‘Gurmukhi’. They have also demanded government holidays on their festivals.
The Sikh leaders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mingora have said that their community is living in the Swat valley for the last 300 years and feels safe here. They have some demands for the government including a school for Sikh children, a report in the Pakistani media said.
Gulzari Lal, a Sikh, said: “We don’t have religious schools to provide education to our children in Gurmukhi language. We’ll be thankful to the government if it makes arrangements for the same”.
He said there are 300 Sikh families residing in the Swat valley and they need a community hall to organise their functions.
The Sikh leaders have also demanded government holidays on their religious festivals. They said that there are Sikhs working in various government offices who don’t get holidays on their festivals.
Mingora Gurdwara Management Committee’s head Banwari Lal thanked the administration for providing security to the Gurdwara but said that the security personnel are Muslims and it’s difficult to differentiate between Sikhs and Muslims by just looking. He asked for Sikh security guards.
Asked about these demands, officials said all legal demands of the Sikh community will be fulfilled.
–IANS
hindi-rs/bg