Distraught by violence, Sikh widows in Peshawar long for a safe home
Jind Kaur, along with her children — twin sons aged one and a daughter aged two — was forced to flee her home in 2006. It was a time when the Sikh community was facing escalated militant attacks and religious intolerance across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), then known as NWFP.
Kaur’s husband, who owned a goods shop and some property in the Khyber district, had been murdered by extremist groups in the region. She subsequently sought refuge in the province’s capital Peshawar, where she has since been making a living as a domestic worker.
The plight of Sarjeet Kaur
Sarjeet Kaur, who washes dishes and does cleaning work at a gurdwara in Peshawar to support her children, migrated to Kurram in the face of extremism and violence against Sikhs in 2009. There, she married Dayal Singh. They lived with their four children in a two-room rented house. All went well until tragedy struck.
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“I dropped my sons to a nearby school for the [Sikh] community and then I called my husband to inform him I was going to pay the electricity bill,” she says. “The store where I was going to pay the bill was near my husband’s shop.”
Upon arriving, Sarjeet saw her husband’s lifeless body in a pool of blood. She cried and shouted for help, but no one came near them.
“I still don’t know the reason behind my husband’s killing,” says Sarjeet. “If we are not safe even in Peshawar, where should we go?”
Despite months having passed since Dayal was murdered in broad daylight, his culprits remain untraced, and the family has not yet received any compensation from the state. With virtually no source of income to take care of her four children and support their education, Sarjeet managed to find work at the Jogan Shah Gurdwara.
But even with all the possible support her community provides to her, the trauma of her husband’s brutal killing, its emotional toll on her children, and the financial constraints make it too difficult for a single mother and her young family to lead a normal life.
Restricted freedom
The Jogan Shah neighborhood in Peshawar, where a large population of the Sikh community once lived and which was also known as “Mini Amritsar”, is no longer the lively haven for Sikhs it used to be.
Today, the area is inhabited largely by Sikh women who lost their husbands to religious violence. A community school for Sikh children in the neighborhood remains locked from the outside, even during daytime, out of fear.
According to Sarjeet, the Sikhs impacted by extremism have been confined to this locality.
“I want my children to play freely like normal children, but every time I remember the brutal murder of my husband, I get scared and don’t even let the children go out of the house,” Sarjeet says. “To keep them occupied, I converse with them and give them toys to play with.”
Several police officers stand posted round the clock at the entrance of the Jogan Shah neighborhood, along with a special branch officer in plain clothes on duty from 8am to 4 pm. They keep a watchful eye on everyone around and investigate people visiting or leaving the neighborhood.
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One security officer, who requested anonymity, says, “Earlier, there was only one police officer in this neighborhood, but after a murder that took place here this year, the security has been increased.”
The officers are obligated to submit a weekly report to their authorities. They note the IDs of visitors carefully and have their meals with the heads of the Sikh community.
Forced departures
There has been no official survey to determine the number of Sikhs living in KP. According to Baba Garpal Singh, a representative for the Sikh community, a large number of families once resided in the northwestern province. Sikh families could be found in various districts, including Khyber, Orakzai, and Kurram.
However, due to worsening law and order situation, many families were forced to leave their homes. Some sought refuge in Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh in Peshawar while others relocated to Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal in the Attock district of Punjab, according to a report. The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and the Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh Committee had stepped in to oversee the relocation efforts.
Many Sikhs had businesses in Peshawar’s Karkhano market and Dabgari Gardens for more than 20 years, but targeted killings forced them to move to other provinces, including Punjab, in hopes for safety.
Sikh leader Gurpal Singh says that amid violence against Sikhs in KP, their properties in Khyber, Tirah, and other districts were seized, compelling several Sikhs to sell their houses and shops below market value to move to Peshawar and other provinces.
“We no longer expect anyone, neither the government nor the agencies, to provide security to our community, so our people thought it best to leave the province,” he says.
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