PESHAWAR: Sikhs in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have welcomed a recent court ruling allowing them to carry a ceremonial dagger, known as the kirpan, in pursuance of an obligatory religious practice, but say the court should not categorize the object as a weapon requiring a license.
Carrying a kirpan is among the five articles of faith in Sikhism and the Sikh community has fought - won and lost - legal battles around the world to be allowed to bear the object in public.
Last year, Sikh social activist Gurpal Singh filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court, asking that his community members be allowed to carry the sacred item in public, including in government offices and on public transportation. The court this week granted the community the right but ordered it to seek renewable licenses for the kirpan and pay a fee.
"The reason why I went to the court was the deteriorating law and order situation in the province and a prohibition on us to carry kirpan in government offices and the city's mass transit system," Singh told Arab News on Friday, saying the Sikh community would no longer face problems when entering public places with the kirpan.
Pakistan is considered the birthplace of the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the small village of Nankana Sahib near the eastern city of Lahore in 1469. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the leader of the Sikh Empire, defeated the majority ethnic Pashtun tribesmen of the region in the Battle of Nowshera in 1823. His commander-in-chief, Hari Singh Nalwa, then moved thousands of Sikhs from Punjab to Peshawar and its surrounding areas in what is present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.
Since then, at least 500 Sikh families lived in Peshawar and its surrounding northwestern regions, according to community estimates. In recent years, thousands of Sikhs from the area, however, have migrated to other parts of Pakistan or neighbouring India out of fear of militant attacks and as targeted killings have been on the rise.
"People of our faith have been targeted in Peshawar and I took the case to the court to ensure their protection," Singh said. "They are all thankful to the Peshawar High Court over its judgment, though they are also hurt since they will need a license for the kirpan, which will require periodic renewals."
Singh said he would now approach all “relevant forums” and meet with parliamentarians to lobby to seek a licensing exemption for the kirpan.
Pakistan's current administration has frequently pledged to secure the rights of minority communities as it seeks to develop religious tourism in the country. It jointly built a visa-free border crossing with India - called the Kartarpur corridor - to allow Sikh pilgrims from the neighboring country easy access to the last resting place of Guru Nanak. The corridor was inaugurated in 2019.
While violence against religious minorities, particularly Christian and Shia Muslims, has been a painfully familiar story in Pakistan, Sikhs have long been considered one of the country’s most protected minorities. In Peshawar, they have lived peacefully among Muslims for over 250 years, working mostly as traditional healers, and running pharmacies and cosmetics and clothing stores.
But a spate of killings in recent years has raised worries Sikhs might be the latest target of Pakistan’s militant groups, leaving community members unsure of their future in the country.
Sikhs were not included in the 2017 population census and there is no hard data on their numbers but social workers estimate more than sixty percent of Peshawar’s 30,000 Sikhs have left for other parts of Pakistan or migrated to neighbouring India in the last six years.
Sikhs are also constantly battling the Pakistan government for ownership of hundreds of their temples, called gurdawaras. Under an agreement signed between Pakistan and India after the partition of India in 1947, religious lands and temples cannot be sold. But community members complain many lands allotted for Sikh temples and crematoriums have been disposed off by the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a body responsible for the maintenance of properties abandoned by people who left for India during Partition.
Speaking to Arab News, rights activist Imran Takkar praised the court's recent judgment on the kirpan, calling it significant for citizenship rights in the country.
"All citizens have the right to practice their faith," he said. "We should make it easy for the Sikh community to do that. Pakistan should follow the example of the United States and European countries who have allowed Sikhs to carry kirpan."
Mixed feelings among Sikhs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over court ruling on ceremonial dagger
https://arab.news/gewm3
Mixed feelings among Sikhs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over court ruling on ceremonial dagger
- Sikhs win legal battle as Peshawar High Court allows community to carry kirpan in public
- However, resentment over part of court order calling Sikhs to apply for renewable licences and pay fee
IMF warns against policy slippage amid weak recovery as it clears $1.2 billion for Pakistan
- Pakistan rebuilt reserves, cut its deficit and slowed inflation sharply over the past one year
- Fund says climate shocks, energy debt, stalled reforms threaten stability despite recent gains
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economic recovery remains fragile despite a year of painful stabilization measures that helped pull the country back from the brink of default, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday, after it approved a fresh $1.2 billion disbursement under its ongoing loan program.
The approval covers the second review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of its climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), bringing total disbursements since last year to about $3.3 billion.
Pakistan entered the IMF program in September 2024 after years of weak revenues, soaring fiscal deficits, import controls, currency depletion and repeated climate shocks left the economy close to external default. A smaller stopgap arrangement earlier that year helped avert immediate default, but the current 37-month program was designed to restore macroeconomic stability through strict monetary tightening, currency adjustments, subsidy rationalization and aggressive revenue measures.
The IMF’s new review shows that Pakistan has delivered significant gains since then. Growth recovered to 3 percent last year after shrinking the year before. Inflation fell from over 23 percent to low single digits before rising again after this year’s floods. The current account posted its first surplus in 14 years, helped by stronger remittances and a sharp reduction in imports. And the government delivered a primary budget surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP, a key program requirement. Foreign exchange reserves, which had dropped dangerously low in 2023, rose from US$9.4 billion to US$14.5 billion by June.
“Pakistan’s reform implementation under the EFF arrangement has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke said in a statement after the Board meeting.
But he warned that Islamabad must “maintain prudent policies” and accelerate reforms needed for private-sector-led and sustainable growth.
The Fund noted that the 2025 monsoon floods, affecting nearly seven million people, damaging housing, livestock and key crops, and displacing more than four million, have set back the recovery. The IMF now expects GDP growth in FY26 to be slightly lower and forecasts inflation to rise to 8–10 percent in the coming months as food prices adjust.
The review warns Pakistan against relaxing monetary or fiscal discipline prematurely. It urges the State Bank to keep policy “appropriately tight,” allow exchange-rate flexibility and improve communication. Islamabad must also continue raising revenues, broadening the tax base and protecting social spending, the Fund said.
Despite the progress, Pakistan’s structural weaknesses remain severe.
Power-sector circular debt stands at about $5.7 billion, and gas-sector arrears have climbed to $11.3 billion despite tariff adjustments. Reform of state-owned enterprises has slowed, including delays in privatizing loss-making electricity distributors and Pakistan International Airlines. Key governance and anti-corruption reforms have also been pushed back.
The IMF welcomed Pakistan’s expansion of its flagship Benazir Income Support Program, which raises cash transfers for low-income families and expands coverage, saying social protection is essential as climate shocks intensify. But it warned that high public debt, about 72 percent of GDP, thin external buffers and climate exposure leave the country vulnerable if reform momentum weakens.
The Fund said Pakistan’s challenge now is to convert short-term stabilization into sustained recovery after years of economic volatility, with its ability to maintain discipline, rather than the size of external financing alone, determining the durability of its gains.
