Photo for representation only. — iStock.

Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 28

The first exclusive school for Sikhs will soon open in Pakistan’s Peshawar after the approval of the Khyber Pakthunkhwa authorities which was a long-standing demand of the Sikh community.

There was a population of more than 20,000 Sikhs in Pakistan as per the US Department of State.

Most of the Sikhs were based in the province of Punjab—a part of the larger Punjab region where the religion had originated in the middle ages — and in Peshawar in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Khyber Pakthunkhwa government’s provincial Auqaf Department has not only allocated an amount of Rs 22 lakh for the construction of the school in Peshawar city but it has also resolved to approve the school building plan with immediate effect.

The first of its kind initiative has been taken on the basis of the long-standing demand of the elected representatives of the Sikh community who have been seeking setting up of a separate educational institute for their community where history and tenets of the Sikhism could be taught apart from regular education to Sikh children.

Besides this, the Khyber Pakthunkhwa provincial authorities have earmarked an amount of more than Rs 85 lakh for holding of different festivals of the minority communities.

The provincial government has earmarked a total sum of Rs 5.5 crore for the welfare of the minorities and for their affairs as part of its 2019-20 budget, sources revealed.