Why Pakistan Ignores Its Largest Minority Community, Hindus?

Pakistan government has deliberately overlooked the Hindu community and denied giving approval for publishing religious textbooks for school curriculum while it has given approval to Christians and Sikhs.

New Delhi: To rub salt on the wounds of its largest minority community Hindus, the Pakistan government has deliberately overlooked the Hindu community and denied giving approval for publishing religious textbooks for school curriculum while it has given approval to the other minority communities including Christians and Sikhs. Pakistan’s National Curriculum Council Secretariat which comes under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, through a notification issued on March 3, 2023, gave approval to the Christian community to publish their religious textbooks from grades 1 to V. “This will enable the Christian minority students to read Christianity in schools who till now are studying Ikhlaqiat (ethics) and not their own religion, “ said Chairman of Pakistan Minorities Teachers Association (PMTA) Anjum James Paul.

Similarly, the Pakistan government has allowed Sikhs to publish textbooks for their students from grades 1 to 3. James said the books would go to publishing soon and would be introduced in both the private and government schools from the next session.

Questions are being asked why Hindus, the largest of the minority community have not been given permission to publish their religious textbooks while Sikhs whose population is less than twenty thousand have been given the approval. Other minority communities such as Buddhists, Parsees, Kalash, and Bahai have also been denied to publish their religious textbooks.

Pakistan has always been supporting Sikh insurgency in India and its notorious intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been actively involved in providing training to Sikh militants and funding terrorism in Indian Punjab.

As the voices of Khalistan once again started emerging from Punjab, the ISI’s sleeper cells got activated and suggested the concerned ministry to facilitate the Sikhs of Pakistan to show its sympathy with the community and deliberately overlook the Hindu community.

In the recent past, Pak’s ISI has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to fuel terrorism in India and had been smuggling contraband such as heroin, arms, and ammunition to fund the separatist movement.

Given the timing of allowing the Sikh community to publish their religious textbooks, the sources here are of the view that this was also part of Pak ISI’s multi-pronged strategy to destabilise peace in Indian Punjab.