The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ordered the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to include Sikhism as a separate religion in its population census form in the second phase of the census. A two-member bench of PHC, comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan, gave its verdict while hearing a writ petition filed by representatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sikh community against the federal government for not adding Sikhism as a separate religion and placing it in the column of 'other religions' in the census form.
Provincial commissioner of the statistics department, Habibullah, informed the court that since first phase of the census was already under way in 63 districts of the country, it won't be possible for the PBS to add the Sikh religion in the census forms. On hearing this, the court ordered the PBS to include a separate column for Sikhism in the population census form in the second phase of the census to be held in 78 districts of the country.