SHC summons government reply over omission of Sikhism in census form

KARACHI: A Sikh community leader filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to include Sikhism in the religion column in the census form.

The divisional bench in SHC heard the case today and sent notices to the Chief Census Commissioner and Provincial Census Commissioner to submit their response.

Talking to Geo News, Sikh community leader, Advocate Heera Singh Khalsa said he filed the case on the basis of article 25-1 that says: "All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law."

Khalsa said that the omission of Sikhism from the census form is a direct violation of article 36. The article states that the state shall safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities, including their due representation in the federal and provincial services.

In a tweet, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan said the "omission must be rectified."

Shocking to know that the Sikh religion has not been included in the religion column of the census forms. This omission must be rectified

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 20, 2017

Over a hundred thousand members of the minority reside in different parts of Pakistan including Karachi and Peshawar.