KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to incorporate Sikhism in the religion column of the
census
form.
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, directed the PBS to include other minority communities, besides Sikhism, in the religion column of the ce
nsus.
The SHC passed these directions while hearing the
petition filed by the representatives of the Sikh community against the lack of a column for counting them separately in the ongoing ce
nsus.
The Sikh community submitted a
petition for a separate box to count Sikhs in the ce
nsus.
However, the
petitioners argued, there existed a separate column for other minorities, adding that the authorities not counting Sikh community separately in the headcount would cause a sense of deprivation among them.
The court was requested to direct the PBS to incorporate a separate column for Sikh community in the form of the ongoing ce
nsus.