A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued summons to the Auqaf Department and the town administration concerned in a petition seeking provision of cremation facilities for Khyber Pukhtunkhwa’s Sikh community.
The petitioner had submitted that due to the lack of any such facility in the province, the community was left with no option but to take their dead all the way to Attock in Punjab province, the nearest place where such a facility was available.
During the hearing on Tuesday, KP’s additional advocate general, Qaiser Khan, claimed before the court that measures were taken to provide the facility, but work could not be completed in time due to differences among community members.
In an apparent reference to the delayed construction of the Bus Rapid Transit system, Justice Mussarat Hilali of the PHC said that the district administration of Peshawar could not provide the Sikh community with a ground for cremation of their dead while it was digging ditches all over the city.
Justice Hilali said the court would not let the government withhold funds allocated for the provision of cremation facilities.
The court then issued summons to the Auqaf Department and the town administration and adjourned the hearing till May 31.
According to the petition, there are over 60,000 Sikhs living across KP but the province does not have a single facility where the community can hold funeral services including cremation of the dead. It states that sikhs from across the KP have to carry bodies to Attock, where they cremate their dead, adding that even transportation of the bodies in not an easy task since there is no dedicated ambulance service for the purpose.
The petition states that the KP government had allocated millions of rupees for the establishment of a cremation facility as well as a cemetery for the province’s Christian community, but officials in the Department of Auqaf and Religious Affairs were employing delaying tactics in the matter.
The petition seeks court orders for the authorities to provide the Sikh community with a proper cremation facility and an ambulance service for transportation of bodies.
Reports appeared in the media on Tuesday quoting Radesh Singh Toni, a Sikh community leader, to claim that Rs30 million was allocated by the government for a cremation facility last year. He said that the government had set the ceiling on land price at Rs100,000 per marla. However, he said, it was impossible to find land in the given price range in Peshawar city.
The province’s Sikh population is spread out with major settlements in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Malakand, Swat, Bunir, Nowshera and Peshawar.
Published in Daily Times, May 23rd 2018.