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Sikhism in Pakistan facts for kids

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Pakistani Sikhs
The Entrance of Janam Asthan-2.jpg
Gurdwara Janam Asthan
Total population
50,000
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Punjabi

Sikhism in the area of present-day Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, although Sikhs form a small community in Pakistan today. Most Sikhs live in the province of Punjab, a part of the larger Punjab region where the religion originated in the Middle Ages, and Peshawar in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, the founder of Sikhism, is located in the Punjab province.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Sikh community became a powerful political force, with Sikh leader Ranjit Singh founding the first Sikh empire, which had its capital in Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan today. Significant populations of Sikhs inhabited the largest cities in the Punjab such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. After the Partition of India in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while many Muslim refugees from India settled in Pakistan.

In the decades following Pakistan's independence in 1947, the Sikh community began to re-organise, forming the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) to represent the community and protect the holy sites and heritage of the Sikh religion in Pakistan. The Pakistani government has begun to allow Sikhs from India to make pilgrimages to Sikh places of worship in Pakistan and for Pakistani Sikhs to travel to India..

Images for kids

  • Samadhi Ranjeet Singh

    Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore

  • Panja Sahib

    Exterior of Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Hasan Abdal

  • Sikh Articles of Faith

    Kanga, Kara and Kirpan - three of the five articles of faith endowed to the Sikhs.

  • Gurdwara-School inner front

    Gurudwara in Layallpur Faisalabad

  • Gurdwara Dera Sahib and Samadhi of Ranjit Singh

    Golden dome of Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore

  • The Entrance of Janam Asthan-2

    The Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan, commemorates the site where Guru Nanak is believed to have been born. It was rebuilt by the Pakistani Government

  • Gudwara Panja Sahib - Flickr - Al Jazeera English (1)

    Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Punjab

  • Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur 04

    Darbar Sahib, gurdwara commemorating Guru Nanak, in Kartarpur, Pakistan

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