Anand Karaj Act in Pakistan is now a law

[HeerSaletti]

ISLAMABAD: Now, it is official. Moving at a breakneck speed, Pakistan government has even notified the Sikh Anand Karaj Act. It has also cleared the way for setting up cremation grounds for Hindu community. A delegation of Sikh leaders met with Pakistan Prime Minister Mohammed Soomro to thank him for the expeditious working of the administration in bringing the law.

President Pervez Musharraf lost no time in signing the Act and then ensuring that it was notified without any hitch. Significantly, Sikhs in India have been demanding a imilar measure for some 50 years now but without any success. What has added to the happiness of the community is that even the Hindu community was granted the right to have cremation grounds.

Funeral rites were being performed by Hindus in Pakistan on the banks of the Ravi so far. Now they have been given 34 kanals of land. Sikh organizations in India have appreciated the Pakistan government’s move for Sikh marriage act in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner, Afrasiab, said the Sikh organizations and managements of various Gurdwaras in India have expressed the hope that this important step would go a long way in promoting good relations between the people of the two faiths.

The Sikh organization Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) in Delhi and various other organizations of the community in Indian Punjab have conveyed thier appreciation in a letter to the Pakistan High Commission.