A gurdwara in Peshawar’s Old City opened its doors to Sikh worshippers for the first time in 73 years.
The reopening was celebrated by Pakistan’s Sikh minority amidst security concerns.
Peshawar is a deeply conservative city and now the focus of an extremist insurgency.
In recent times militants have attacked schools, bombed buses and attacked churches in Peshawar.
The reopened gurdwara is guarded 24x7 by Sikh security men.
“Security is very necessary... for the people who want to come here for prayers without any fear,” Gurpal Singh, security chief for Peshawar’s Sikh community, told the Hindu.
The gurdwara was closed in the 1940s when Sikhs that lived in the area and attended it left the city.
The CIA Factbook estimates that 3.6 per cent of Pakistan’s 180 million people are non-Muslims that is Sikhs, Christians and Hindus.
Sikhs are among the smallest minorities in Pakistan.
For 73 years the gurudwara has stood empty.
Since 1947, the gurdwara was administered by the government’s Evacuee Trust.
It has been used as a vocational school, home, and as a workplace.
Despite the dangers they face, the small Sikh community says that they will not give-in to the militants.
gurudwara Source: Facebook
