LAHORE: In a historic move, Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly passed a law on Wednesday that recognizes the separate religious identity of the country’s Sikh community by allowing its members to register their marriages with union councils according to their own family law.
The Punjab Sikh Anand Karaj Marriages Act, 2018, was tabled in the House by Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora last Friday after getting approval from the Standing Committee on Minorities and Human Rights.
“I am really happy that we have got recognition today by getting our own family law,” said Gurmeet Singh to Arab News. He had come from Nankana Sahib to witness the historic moment at the Punjab Assembly. “Even in India, our marriages are registered under the Hindu Marriage law,” he said.
About 25,000 Sikhs live in Pakistan with the majority in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The tomb of the founder of their religion, Guru Nanak, is in Nankana Sahib which is 80 km from Lahore.
Given the religious significance of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Sikhs from different parts of the world, especially India, Canada and the US, visit the province every year in order to perform their religious rituals.
While Pakistan does not have a huge Sikh population, it has benefited their global community by setting an example for other parts of the world and accepting their separate religious identity.
“It is a great moment in our country’s history,” Ramesh Singh Arora told Arab News. “Pakistan will gain global recognition for passing this first-of-its-kind legislation.”
Members of the Sikh community who live in Punjab can now register their marriages — or dissolutions — with union councils under a law that sets them apart from the Muslim majority.
The union councils have also been authorized to issue them with marriage certificates that were previously denied them in the absence of a relevant legal framework.
The Sikh marriage certificates will also be acceptable to the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), making it possible for community members to get documents that are necessary to prove their ties at the international level and get family visas.
“Getting one’s marriage registered is every citizen’s fundamental right,” said Provincial Minister for Minorities’ Affairs, Tahir Khalil Sindhu, when he spoke to the Punjab Assembly. “The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government believes in protecting the basic rights of every citizen and we support this law.”
Punjab Assembly makes history by passing Sikh Marriages Act
Punjab Assembly makes history by passing Sikh Marriages Act
![About 25,000 Sikhs live in Pakistan with the majority in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (Photo courtesy: ISPR) Punjab Assembly makes history by passing Sikh Marriages Act](https://wingday.site/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/2018/03/14/1128706-1200452556.jpg?itok=NzoH6cJ7)