KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday summoned a reply from the government over the omission of Sikhism in the religion column in the census form.
A Sikh community, Advocate Heera Singh Khalsa said he filed the case in the SHC on the basis of article 25-1 that says: “All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.”.
The divisional bench in SHC heard the case today and sent notices to the Chief Census Commissioner and Provincial Census Commissioner to submit their response.
Khalsa said that the omission of Sikhism from the census form is a direct violation of article 36. The article states that the state shall safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities, including their due representation in the federal and provincial services.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in a tweet said the “omission must be rectified.”
Shocking to know that the Sikh religion has not been included in the religion column of the census forms. This omission must be rectified
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 20, 2017