In an un­prece­dented move mark­ing a mile­stone for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Pak­istan, the Pun­jab provin­cial cab­i­net, spear­headed by Ramesh Singh Arora—the first Sikh min­is­ter in Maryam Nawaz’s gov­ern­ment and Pres­i­dent of the Pak­istan Sikh Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee (PS­GPC)—has an­nounced a se­ries of trans­for­ma­tive amend­ments to the Sikh Anand Karaj Mar­riage Act 2018. WSN re­ports.

In a his­toric stride to­ward bol­ster­ing the rights and le­gal stand­ing of its Sikh mi­nor­ity, the Pun­jab province of Pak­istan, un­der the lead­er­ship of Ramesh Singh Arora, has in­tro­duced piv­otal amend­ments to the Sikh Anand Karaj Mar­riage Act 2018. Arora, who not only serves as the Provin­cial Cab­i­net Min­is­ter for Mi­nor­ity Af­fairs but also pre­sides as the Pres­i­dent of the Pak­istan Sikh Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee (PS­GPC), has been in­stru­men­tal in dri­ving these re­forms, which are hailed as a bea­con of progress for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Pak­istan.

Aimed at for­ti­fy­ing the le­gal frame­work around Sikh mar­riages in Pak­istan for the mi­cro­scopic Sikh com­mu­nity, the pro­posed amend­ments to the Sikh Anand Mar­riage Act 2018, not only set the min­i­mum age for mar­riage at 18 but also in­tro­duce a struc­tured mech­a­nism for mar­riage reg­is­tra­tion, di­vorce, and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, align­ing with the teach­ings of Guru Granth Sahib. This land­mark leg­is­la­tion promises to stream­line mar­i­tal processes and bol­ster the rights of the Sikh mi­nor­ity, show­cas­ing Pun­jab’s com­mit­ment to nur­tur­ing an in­clu­sive and eq­ui­table so­ci­ety.

This land­mark leg­is­la­tion promises to stream­line mar­i­tal processes and bol­ster the rights of the Sikh mi­nor­ity, show­cas­ing Pun­jab’s com­mit­ment to nur­tur­ing an in­clu­sive and eq­ui­table so­ci­ety.

At a re­cent meet­ing in La­hore at­tended by Head Granthis from promi­nent Gur­d­waras across Pak­istan, in­clud­ing La­hore, Nankana Sahib, Panja Sahib, Dera Sahib, and Pe­shawar, a con­sen­sus was reached on sev­eral key amend­ments. No­tably, the re­forms set the le­gal age for mar­riage within the Sikh com­mu­nity at 18 years, align­ing with in­ter­na­tional child rights and mar­riage norms. This de­ci­sion un­der­scores a com­mit­ment to the wel­fare and rights of Sikh youth, en­sur­ing their readi­ness for the re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of mar­riage.

In ad­di­tion to set­ting the mar­riage age, the amend­ments es­tab­lish a clear and dig­ni­fied mar­riage reg­is­tra­tion pro­ce­dure ac­cord­ing to Guru Granth Sahib’s teach­ings. Cou­ples must fill out the Anand Karaj form and sub­mit it to the au­tho­rized reg­is­trar within 30 days of their mar­riage, a move that not only le­git­imizes Sikh mar­riages but also aids in their doc­u­men­ta­tion and le­gal recog­ni­tion.

Fur­ther strength­en­ing the com­mu­nal and spir­i­tual frame­work of Sikh mar­riages, the amend­ments pro­pose the for­ma­tion of a rec­on­cil­i­a­tion coun­cil to me­di­ate in mat­ri­mo­nial dis­putes. This ini­tia­tive aims to fos­ter har­mony and un­der­stand­ing within cou­ples, em­body­ing the com­mu­nal spirit and val­ues of Sikhism. The coun­cil’s es­tab­lish­ment, em­pha­siz­ing the need for Sikh back­ground mem­bers, high­lights the im­por­tance of cul­tural sen­si­tiv­ity and re­li­gious un­der­stand­ing in re­solv­ing mar­i­tal is­sues.

The coun­cil’s es­tab­lish­ment, em­pha­siz­ing the need for Sikh back­ground mem­bers, high­lights the im­por­tance of cul­tural sen­si­tiv­ity and re­li­gious un­der­stand­ing in re­solv­ing mar­i­tal is­sues.

Ramesh Singh Aro­ra’s ef­forts sig­nify a mon­u­men­tal step for­ward for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Pak­istan. By ad­vo­cat­ing for these amend­ments, Arora not only cham­pi­ons the rights of mi­nori­ties but also fa­cil­i­tates the le­gal ac­knowl­edg­ment and sanc­tity of Sikh mar­riages. The im­ple­men­ta­tion of these re­forms is an­tic­i­pated to ad­dress long-stand­ing is­sues such as non-reg­is­tra­tion of mar­riages, in­her­i­tance dis­putes, and the lack of a for­mal di­vorce pro­ce­dure, thereby sim­pli­fy­ing and dig­ni­fy­ing the lives of Sikh Pak­ista­nis.

As these changes take ef­fect, they her­ald a new era of equal­ity, jus­tice, and re­spect for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Pak­istan, mak­ing it a pi­o­neer­ing ex­am­ple of mi­nor­ity rights pro­tec­tion in the re­gion.

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