Officials summoned over case of crematory ground for Sikhs in KP

PESHAWAR: The administrator of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa auqaf department and Town I nazim have been summoned to Peshawar High Court over case regarding the province not having a crematory ground for Sikhs, Hindus to perform final rights of their dead.

During the hearing on Tuesday, KP Additional Advocate General Qaiser Khan claimed before the court that measures were taken to provide facilities to Sikhs in the province, but work has not been done due to differences among community members.

The court asked him to do what they could in their capacity for the Sikh community.

While raising questions on the performance of the district administration, Justice Mussarat Hilali asked why they could not provide the Sikhs in Peshawar with a crematory ground when they can “dig ditches” across the city. She was referring to the work that was under way for Bus Rapid Transit system.

Justice Hilali said they would retrieve the money for minorities that authorities concerned had "withheld".

The court issued summons to the auqaf department administrator and Town I nazim, adjourning the hearing till May 31. 

As per the petition that was filed in Peshawar High Court, there are over 60,000 Sikhs living across KP but the province did not have a single crematory ground for them to perform the final rites of their dead.

Due to the unavailability of a proper space the Sikhs carry bodies of their loved ones to Attock in Punjab, where they cremate their dead, the petitioner stated.

However, even carrying bodies to Attock is not an easy task as Sikhs are not provided with a separate ambulance service for the purpose, according to the petitioner.

He also claimed that the KP government had allocated millions of funds for establishment of a crematory ground and Christian cemetery, but officials in the Department of Auqaf and Religious Affairs were employing delaying tactics in utilisation of these funds for the purpose, The News reported.

The petitioner has demanded the government provides the Sikh community with a proper crematory ground and an ambulance service.

Sikh community chairperson of Pakistan, Radesh Singh Toni told The News that the KP government had allocated Rs30 million last year for crematory ground, but the allocation was made with a condition that a land having price of Rs100,000 per marla should be purchased for it.

Toni said it was impossible to find a land in Peshawar city within the given price range.

The issue of Sikhs and Hindus in KP not having a proper crematory ground has been going on since quite a long time, leaving their population from Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Malakand, Swat, Bunir, Nowshera and Peshawar to spend thousands of rupees on taking the corpses of their relatives to Punjab for cremation.