In a historic move to preserve Sikh family and marriage customs and laws, Pakistan’s largest Punjab province has passed legislation that would legally recognize the minority community’s rites.
The assembly adopted the Punjab Sikhs Anand Karaj Marriages Act 2018 unanimously, replacing the British colonial era 1909 law that did not not give legal status to Sikh way of marriage.
The law effectively gives identity to the Sikh community in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where Nanakana Sahib, the birthplace of founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak, house the spiritual center of the community.
“Pakistan has become the first country to pass a law regulating marriages of the Sikh community,” the only Sikh legislator in Punjab Assembly, Ramesh Singh Arora said after the law was passed.
Even, India, Pakistan’s eastern neighbor with a huge Sikh population, has not taken this kind of regulatory step to uphold the Sikh solemnization of marriage between two adults.
“In India, marriages of the Sikh community are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act,” Arora, who belongs to the ruling PML-N party, said.
According to The Express Tribune newspaper Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) President Sardar Tara Singh has welcomed the move.
“There was no law for the Sikh community, but now their family matters will be dealt with through relevant legislation,” he said, adding that the community had to face several issues in the absence of such legislation.
The new law, when endorsed by the Punjab Governor, will also uphold that all marriages between Sikh persons, whether solemnised before or after this law is passed, shall be registered with the relevant union council.
Under the provisions, a duly completed and signed Sikh marriage form shall be submitted to the marriage registrar, which will be appointed, and notified to the union council within 30 days of the date of marriage.
Each union council shall grant a licence to one or more persons for the purposes of entering and registering Sikh marriages in the marriage registry.
In recent years, Pakistani Sikh community has been visible in the national life, with a growing number of traders and presence in the armed forces. Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib is a revered place of pilgrimage for Sikhs from around the world.
