New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) By backing the Khalistan movement, Pakistan has tried to project itself as the champion of Sikhs. The narrative that Islamabad has tried to set through the Khalistan movement is that India is an aggressor when it comes to Sikhs and hence a separate nation for the community must be carved out of Punjab. Officials say that the recent incident in which the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad near Lahore was razed to the ground on June 24 only exposes the hypocrisy.

The Sikhs hold this Gurdwara in very high esteem as it is associated with the historic Singh Sabha Movement. The members of the Sikh community protested after the Gurdwara was razed by locals without official approval.

An official said that this is not for the first time that such an incident has taken place. The Sikhs are one of the most persecuted community in Pakistan after the Hindus. Islamabad, the so called champions of the Sikh cause who run the Khalistan movement have been silent about such incidents, the official added.

India’s External Affairs Ministry, however, reacted to the incident and said, “We have seen the deeply distressing reports regarding the demolition of the historic 125-year-old sacred Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, Pakistan.”

Another official said that the Khalistan movement which is backed by Pakistan reeks of hypocrisy. The Sikhs remain one of the most vulnerable communities in Pakistan. They have been subjected to targeted killings, abductions and forced conversions. Further, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan have very often targeted the Sikhs.

Statistics would show that prior to the 1947 Partition there were over 2 lakh Sikhs in Pakistan. The current number stands at 15,000. According to the 1941 Census, the Sikh population in Pakistan was at 6.1 per cent. Currently it is dwindling rapidly and stands at 0.1 per cent.

The religious places of Sikhs in Pakistan have come under repeated attacks. This year, the Gurdwara Chobacha Sahib in Dharampura, associated with the Sixth Sikh Guru was demolished without any explanation. The protests by the community fell on deaf ears.

In June 2026, unknown persons shot dead Jagannath and his wife Asma Want. The elderly Sikh couple were the caretakers of a Gurdwara in Mardan district’s Babu Mohalla area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, which is the birthplace of Guru Nanak has also been a topic of debate. In 2020, an angry mob pelted stones at the shrine and even threatened to destroy it. An Intelligence Bureau official said that the shrine continues to remain tense and fresh attempts are being made to carry out violent incidents around it.

Data would show that there are nearly 345 Sikh shrines in Pakistan of which many are non-functional. Others have been illegally occupied by land mafias.

The official said that some had to be demolished due to poor maintenance. The role of the Evacuee Trust Property Board has come under question as this body is meant to protect such shrines and also ensure their maintenance.

While there has been outrage among the Sikh community both in India and Punjab, the Khalistan terror groups continue to train alongside the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

As early as last week, cadres of the Babbar Khalistan International (BKI), Khalistan Liberation Army (KLA) and Lashkar-e-Tayiba were training together regularly at Minawali, Chakwal and Khot Lakhpat.

The ISI has designated top trainers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to impart training to these Khalistan terror groups, an official said.

Even propaganda groups that are based abroad such as the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) have not issued a word of condemnation for the atrocities that are being committed against the Sikhs in Pakistan.

An official said that this clearly establishes not just the hypocrisy of these Khalistan terror groups, but also shows how closely linked they are to Pakistan and its spy agency, the ISI.

–IANS

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