We are Pakhtun first and Sikh later: NWFP Sikhs

[Naveed Yaseen]

by Kamal Siddiqi
HASANABDAL: Gurdwara Panja Sahab, located in Hasanabdal, has so far received 340 displaced families from places as far away as Swat and Malakand. Many of those who turned up at the Gurdwara fled their homes with only their clothes on their back.

Dr Ashok, a six-foot-tall man hailing from Pir Baba village in Buner, says he decided to leave his home when there was a lull in the fighting. “We headed for Hasanabdal because this is the only place we know,” he added.

While children play in the courtyard of the Gurdwara and women wash their clothes in the water channel down below, Dr Suran Singh of the Pak Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee worries about how to cater for the growing number of arrivals. Dr Singh, a homoeopathic doctor, left his clinic in Buner and fled with six family members packed in his small Suzuki on April 28. Back home, he was an elected member of the local council. Since his arrival in Hasanabdal, he has taken charge as the spokesman and chief organiser of the group. He says the only thing people want now is to go home.

Many people are still left behind in the troubled areas. The fighting on the main highway has discouraged them from travelling and there is hope that they will come once there is a break in the curfew and fighting. Dr Suran says that in many ways the Sikhs have been lucky to have a place to come to.

“Many of our Muslim neighbours and friends have ended up in tents,” he says, adding that the reason why most have fled is the fear of shelling. When asked about the Jaziya tax that the Taliban are believed to have imposed on the Sikhs living in areas controlled by them, Dr Suran Singh says that the reports are untrue.

“I have not been approached. In fact, the Taliban came to my area on April 4 and for almost a month we lived under their control. We only fled when the fighting intensified.”

However, others say that they have indeed heard of the tax. “I know families in Tirah who were told to pay,” said one young man. Others say that the Taliban have held some Sikhs against their will and have imposed a levy on the community. One man said that the Taliban confiscated the homes of people who fled rather than pay the tax.

Most of the Sikh families that have arrived in Hasanabdal have left behind a family member. Many of them were in areas which are under intense firing and shelling. Others have closed their homes, shops, clinics and offices and moved out.

Many worry about their family members back home. Others say that they fear the worst once they get back. Almost all of the men and women from the Sikh community who have arrived from the troubled areas are educated and from middle-income backgrounds. Most of them speak Pushto fluently and feel at home in the wider Pakhtun community.

Some worry that their properties would be targeted and looted once the violence dies down. Others hope and pray that they get the opportunity to rebuild their homes and lives. One sign that their stay at Hasanabdal would be longer than expected is that the children are being offered admission in the school adjoining the Gurdwara.

Some Sikh women are already spending time at the school teaching for a few hours because they say this helps release their stress. As the capacity of the Gurdwara to accommodate reaches its limit, Sikhs have started to rent places around the town. But rentals have also gone up given the unexpected demand. Locals also worry that the arrival of so many Sikh families may upset the ethnic balance of the little town.

Manzoor Bhatti, the caretaker of the Gurdwara, belongs to the Evacuee Trust Property Board, says the Sikhs, many of whom are professional doctors and engineers, are happy to run their own affairs. So far, both the government and the United Nations have helped with supplies.

However, to sustain such a large number over a longer period would be difficult. He says he is hoping for the best.

This optimism is shared by people like Sandeep Kumar, a student of the Edwards College in Peshawar. Kumar says that his family never migrated to India after partition “because the Muslims in our area begged us to stay on.” Now, however, “we have been forced out by extremists, not our neighbours.”

Asked to comment on the offer to migrate to India, Dr Suran Singh says with a smile: “We are Pakhtuns first and Sikh later. These times are troubling for all Pakhtuns not just the Pakistani Sikhs. We need to fight this challenge together.” This is a sentiment shared by many of the people who have taken refuge in the Gurdwara.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=177696