Joint Hindu-Sikh committee formed in Pakistan to probe sacrilege incident in Sindh

Amritsar: For the first time, a joint Hindu and Sikh committee has been formed in Pakistan to investigate an incident of sacrilege in Sindh province.Krishan Sharma, chairman of the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee (PHMMC), informed that representatives of the management committee and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) met in Lahore to address the tensions arising from the sacrilege incident in Sindh.The meeting was attended by PSGPC president Ramesh Kumar, who is also the minority affairs minister of Punjab province, Pakistan. He informed that the issue of the distortion of Gurbani was discussed in the meeting. "All participants strongly condemned the incident and expressed solidarity with the Sikh community," said Ramesh Kumar.He said a young Hindu preacher, Sagar Kumar, from Shikarpur city in Sindh province of Pakistan, allegedly distorted the Gurbani by replacing the name of Baba Guru Nanak with that of Narayan Bhajan, a saint of the Udhasi panth. The act was strongly condemned by the Sikh community in Pakistan when a video of the incident went viral.To prevent the tension from escalating between the two minority communities in Pakistan, the PHMMC and PSGPC held a meeting on Tuesday to defuse the potential conflict caused by the incident, said Krishan Sharma. He said a six-member committee, comprising three members each from the PHMMC and the PSGPC, was formed. Sharma further informed that the minister of state for religious affairs and inter-faith harmony, Kheal Das Kohistani, was appointed as the chairman of the committee. This is the first time that such a committee has been constituted in Pakistan, he added.Meanwhile, Sagar Kumar, in a video uploaded on social media, realised his mistake and sought apology. Sources, however, informed that a few Sikh leaders wanted to file an FIR against him under the sacrilege act, specifically Sections 295-A, 295-B, and 295-C, for allegedly defaming Sikhism."We will conduct an investigation into the case, but the priority is to de-escalate the situation, diffuse tensions, and prevent religious sentiments from being further inflamed," said Krishan Sharma.