Geneva, Sep 23 (IANS) Patiala Foundation, an Indian non-governmental organisation in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), has raised concerns regarding the protection of Sikh, Hindu, and other minority religious heritage sites in Pakistan during the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The foundation has submitted a written statement to the UN Secretary-General, and Patiala Foundation Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ravee Singh Ahluwalia also made an oral intervention during the General Debate.
In its written and oral interventions, Patiala Foundation spoke about the findings placed before Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on the Minority Caucus, according to which only 37 of around 1,800 Hindu temples and Sikh gurdwaras were reported to remain functional. The foundation raised concerns about the preservation, management, and protection of minority religious places of worship and heritage sites.
The Foundation also referred to the international concerns raised about persecution, attacks on places of worship, forced conversion and the vulnerability of religious minorities in Pakistan. In the statement, the foundation referenced the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 Annual Report on Pakistan and United Nations human rights experts' statement of April 11, 2024, relating to the continued vulnerability of Christian and Hindu girls to forced religious conversion, abduction and forced marriage in Pakistan.
It also highlighted the reported demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad near Lahore in July. It called for evaluation of the protection of minority religious heritage through preservation, accountability and equal custodianship.
Patiala Foundation has urged the Human Rights Council to encourage the Pakistan government to implement the recommendations of its Parliamentary Committee on the Minority Caucus, strengthen oversight and accountability in the management of minority religious properties, investigate reported cases of demolition, encroachment and desecration, restore damaged sites in consultation with affected communities, and ensure the direct participation of Sikh, Hindu, and other minority communities in the protection and stewardship of their sacred places.
In his remarks on the occasion, Ahluwalia said: "Sikh, Hindu, Christian, and other minority heritage sites are not merely physical structures. They are living spaces of faith, memory, identity, and community continuity. Their protection is inseparable from the right of every individual and community to practise, preserve and transmit their faith and culture with dignity."
Ahluwalia said that Patiala Foundation, through its intervention at the UNHRC, has demanded constructive engagement, credible accountability and meaningful protection of minority communities and their sacred heritage in Pakistan.
"Heritage protection is a human-rights issue, because the loss of a sacred site can also mean the loss of access, identity, memory and dignity for an entire community."
The demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Pakistan's Farooqabad left portions of the historic shrine in rubble after a local businessman allegedly carried out the work without legal clearance or court order. Authorities acknowledged the demolition only after Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets to protest the incident, as per a report.
Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets to protest against the incident, according to a report in Khalsa Vox. An official later admitted that the department failed to take notice of the demolition until local Sikhs protested.
--IANS
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