Sikh leader’s kin suffer injuries in ‘attack’ over land issue in Pakistan

He said Mastan Singh had bought a piece of land from a local resident of Nankana Sahib but later transfer of land became an issue. “On Tuesday, both groups had a scuffle in which two members of Mustan’s family suffered injuries. However, their condition is stable,” Mempal Singh said and demanded action against the culprits.

Nankana City Police sub inspector Muhammad Abid told PTI that Mastan Singh has not yet reported the matter to the police. “We will register FIR after receiving a complaint,” he said.

A family member of Mastan Singh on Wednesday uploaded a video on Twitter in which an injured Sikh is lying on a bed in hospital.

He said his family’s over five acres land dispute had been lingering for the last 10 years. He said neither police, nor the commissioner office and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) are bothered to resolve the matter. The ETPB is a statutory board that manages religious properties and shrines of Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated to India following the partition.

He said their opponents attacked them on Tuesday in the fields and injured his relatives. He said this is happening to the Sikh minority in Pakistan.

PSGPC incumbent president Ameer Singh told PTI that since it is a land dispute between two groups the fight between them should not be given a “religious colour”.

The latest incident comes days after the local media in Pakistan reported that the country’s first Sikh police officer Gulab Singh Shaheen has gone missing.

According to unconfirmed media reports, Gulab has been abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies and kept at an unknown location.

It is not first time that Gulab Singh is in headlines.

In 2018, he was forcibly evicted from his house along with his wife and three children. He was also dismissed from the post of traffic warden after he remained absent from the job for 116 days.

Then Gulab Singh had levelled serious allegations of corruption on the ETPB officials and some office bearers of PSGPC in management of Sikh Gurudwaras.

Prior to that, in 2015, Gulab Singh had lodged an complaint at the Eminabad police station of Gujranwala regarding the disappearance of a relic associated with Guru Nanak Dev ji.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami has termed as “unfortunate” the “injustice and excesses” on the minority Sikh community in Pakistan.

He sad that the disappearance of Pakistan’s first Sikh police officer is an act of repression of minorities.

He said in the past too, there have been reports of injustice and excesses on minority Sikhs in Pakistan which made it clear that Sikhs there are not safe. “This phenomenon is not right and the government of any country is responsible for the safety of the people of all communities. The abduction of Gulab Singh Shaheen at an undisclosed location is a matter of fear among Sikhs in Pakistan and the Pakistan government should immediately disclose his whereabouts. The Pakistan government should also come clear on allegations that intelligence agencies are involved in Gulab Singh’s disappearance,” said Dhami.

He also demanded “justice” and “compensation” for family members of the PSGPC former president injured in the clash over land dispute.