‘Sikligar Sikhs in MP face safety issues’

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 28

The British Sikh Council (BSC) today raised concern for the safety of Sikligar Sikhs living in remote areas of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Council’s president Tarsem Singh Deol said the Sikligar Sikhs were basically blacksmiths and were traditionally engaged in crafting knives, swords and guns. Due to their weapon making business, they are always looked at suspiciously by the police and are facing harassment, he claimed.

“While nearly 500 policemen raided a remote forest area of Pandori village in Khandwa district in MP and arrested many Sikhs on the basis of suspicion, it also arrested three Sikhs from Umadi village in Badwai district. Also, the police fired at the community in Dhar district to arrest Sikligar Sikhs and misbehaved with their women and children in Pachauri village in Baranpur district,” Deol claimed.

He said according to the Sikh population survey conducted by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in 2002, there were 5 crore Sikligar Sikhs across the world. This year, their population is expected to have touched 7 crore. The SGPC is still turning deaf ear to their concerns, he alleged.

“Majority of them are forced to live in remote jungles and are leading a ‘kabila’ life in Madhya Pradesh. They do not have money for treatment of various ailments and even their widows, majority of who are in the age group of 25 to 30 years, do not have any source on income,” the BSC president said.

Council representatives said it would soon open special schools in Punjab to bring their children back to the state. “We have planned to bring around 500 children every year to get them admitted to these schools,” Deol added.