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It’s not the Pakistan or Muslims but Hindus and RSS whom threaten the Sikhs

Yesterday, Pakistan first time in its history saw a protest by its Sikh citizen outside the Houses of Parliament. Dozens of baton-holding Sikhs stormed through the gates of Parliament House in protest against the alleged desecration of their holy book Sri Guru Granth Sahib in Sindh. The protesters were also not deterred by tear gas shells and went on to present their demands to the government.

The event sucked all the oxygen of the Indian and some Pakistani news channels who reported Pakistan as ‘bigoted Islamic state where minorities are vandalised’. Some channels portrayed ‘Pakistan as an Islamic state that promotes only Islamic teachings and values and who has failed to provide Sikhs shelter, protection and equal rights’.  Most of the Pakistani channels remained over concerned about the breach of ‘tight security’ in the ‘red zone’ of Pakistan’s capital city.

All media outlets reported that Sikhs protested against the desecration of their holy scripture. Every media channel reported that the protesters claimed their gurdwaras in Karachi, Shikarpur and various other cities of Sindh were allegedly being attacked. But none of the channels reported WHO has been alleged by the Sikh community for these acts. Indian channels in their attempts to defame Pakistan even alleged the Muslims and some Islamic organisations in Pakistan for these acts against the Sikhs.

The facts however are completely different from what has been reported on most of the media outlets. The protest was actually a result of the tensions escalating between Pakistani Hindus and Sikhs over sacrilege of the copies of Sikh’s holy book in various parts of Southern Sindh province. The trouble began few months back when Sikh students shared some controversial photos of a Hindu mela in Jai Samadha Ashram in Shikarpur. The Hindu Ashram, which houses both the Gita and Guru Granth Sahib, is widely criticised by the Sikhs. In the pictures that circulated on social networking site Facebook, the head of the Hindu temple, Swami Saeen Narayan Bhajan, a young man in his late 20s, is seen signing the Sikh scripture after drawing Ganesh a symbol belonging to the Hindu faith. The issue created a furore among Sikhs as the head of the Hindu temple was also seen holding the Guru Granth Sahib (Holy book of Sikhs) bare-headed. As per Sikh religion any one touching, carrying out any Service or Sewa for Guru Granth Sahib must cover his/her head at all times with turban or scarf, etc.

The Pakistan Sikh Council has also alleged that the copies of sacred Sikh Scripture have been burnt, and torn off in Hindu temples in Mehhar, Pano Aqil, Sukkur, Mirpur Mathelo and Shikarpur cities. The fact is that attacks on the Sikh faith by Hindus have been ongoing for years in order to show Sikhs to be a part of Hinduism.

Indian supported Hindu temples in Sindh are trying to subjugate the Sikh identity by placing Sikh Scripture in the Hindu temples. They are trying to establish that the Sikhs had no separate identity of their own. This is obviously not acceptable to the Sikhs as the Sikh community has become reform oriented and politically aware, thinking that without a distinct identity and its acknowledgement by others, the Sikh community would be subsumed by the Hindu community and suffer politically, economically, socially and in the field of religion.

This is not a new attack on Sikh Identity by Hindus as since 1877, Arya Samaj had been carrying out such malicious tasks against the Sikhs. Swami Dayanand’s book Satyarthi Prakash advocated a strong argument against Islam and Sikhism. The political situation along with the Sikh-Arya confrontation sharpened the issue of Sikh identity. The death of Dyal Singh Majithia in 1898 made the question of Sikh identity a legal issue especially when the court ruled that he was a Hindu.

In colonial India, the Hindunised priests in charge of the Sikh Gurdwaras, including the main Sikh shrine at Amritsar, began to propagate Sikhism as a sect within Hinduism. Baba Khem Singh Bedi, a member of the old religious aristocracy who was patronised by the British, was among the first to declare that Sikhs were Hindus. The book ‘Sikh Hindu Hain’ made a case for the inclusion of the Sikhs in the Hindu fold. This book was written in response to Bhai Kahn Singh’s ‘Hum Hindu Nahin’ which was the most popular tract on the subject in the early decades of the twentieth century. He argued that a distinctive Sikh identity was not a new thing. In response to the question whether or not the Sikhs were Hindu and whether or not it was politic on the part of the Sikhs to insist that they must be treated as a separate Nation, he holds: ‘No progress is possible without becoming independent (swatantar). To be a branch (shakh) of another Nation (qaum), is to remain in ‘slavery’ (ghulami), and such subordination involved all kinds of depression.

The Singh Sabha reformers responded to Arya attacks by emphasising their distinctive religious identity and removal of Hindu practices. In 1905 all idols were removed from the Sikh shrines. The confrontation with the Arya Samaj and their propaganda not only gave the Sikhs a platform to put forward their view point but also helped the ‘Sikhs clarify, refine and delimit their own religious identity’. This brought about not only consciousness of their distinct identity, but also transformed the attitudes of the Sikhs towards other communities bringing communitarian consciousness into play.

The Hindus established Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925 to spread Hindu culture. The mission of RSS is to unite and rejuvenate the ‘Bharat’ nation on the sound foundation of Hindu Dharma. The RSS is striving for a strong and united Hindu society and the vision of Hindutva (Hindu Rule). It’s definition of ‘Hindu’ is anyone born and belonging to India. This includes Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. It has 30,000 branches in India and 35 abroad. The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat group, which is a branch of the main RSS was formed in Indian Punjab in 1986 claiming to promote Sikh-Hindu relations. It’s main aim however is to attack and swallow the Sikh religion.  Over the last two years, the RSS has intensified its attention on Sikh affairs in both India and Pakistan. At every given opportunity, it has tried to build inroads into Sikh institutions and attacked the basic Sikh philosophy and way of life. By any means possible it is trying to undermine the history, the beliefs and institutions of the Sikh faith.

The current ruling Party of Indian Punjab, The Akali Dal, is allying with the RSS and the BJP. During the recent Indian Elections the severe setback to the Sikh community due the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom was projected to show the devil in Congress alone. The real role of the RSS in backing up the Indira-Rajiv onslaught on the Sikhs was deliberately underplayed.

Under the watchful guidance of this unholy alliance, the RSS has increased its campaign in Pakistani Hindu temples. The Hindu temples in Sindh are trying to give the Sikhs sweet poison by proclaiming that the Hindus of Pakistan also follow the teachings of Guru Nanak. By placing both Gita and Guru Granth Sahib in the Hindu temples they are preaching that Sikhs are after all no different than Hindus. They are propagating that Sikh Gurus were true Hindus and Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu blessed the Sikh faith. The Sikhs, they claim, should feel proud as the sword-arm of Hinduism.  In this way, the RSS supported Pakistani Hindu temples have tried to make the Sikh masses to take pride in establishing a link between Sikhism and Hinduism. Once this link becomes solid, the RSS has already devised a plan to decay the foundations of the Sikh faith and history.

While the Prime Minister of Pakistan is so over enthusiastically looking forward to participate in the Oath taking ceremony of the ‘Butcher of Gujrat’, India’s intelligence agency, RAW in close collaboration with RSS and few influential Hindus of Sindh is busy in attacking the Sikh community in Pakistan. The real concern of the Government of Pakistan and Pakistani media shouldn’t be the breach of security in the yesterday’s event but the breach of rights of Sikhs and their growing frustration. sThe constitution of Pakistan in its article 36 clearly states, ‘The State shall safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities’ and article 25 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan describes, ‘All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law’.

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