Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan -- the man who is lecturing the world on breaking the "cycle of hate and extremism" and urging the Muslim leaders to take a stand against "rising Islamophobia" -- is continuing with his mission of ethnic cleansing and wiping out every single religious minority at home.

While radical Islamists targeted another Hindu temple in Karachi on Tuesday, another blow was dealt to the diminishing Sikh community of Pakistan as the management and maintenance of the holy Sri Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara was transferred from the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC), a body run by the minority Sikh community, to the administrative control of the nine-member Evacuee Trust Property Board (EPTB), a non-Sikh body.

It was at the inauguration ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in November last year that the Pakistani PM had spoken about promoting unity and humanity and tried to woo the Sikh community by saying that he was extremely pleased to see the happiness on the faces of Sikh pilgrims who had got their long-standing demand fulfilled. Now just a few days before the first anniversary of the Corridor's opening, Khan has stamped his approval on the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony's order of allowing ETPB to take over the administrative control of the historic gurudwara.

The Sikhs on both sides of the border had anticipated this for long. Just like the Hindus and the Christians, they have raised their voice repeatedly against the Pakistani government constantly meddling in their religious affairs. For Pakistan, Kartarpur Corridor was nothing but part of an image-building exercise while the attack on minorities continue all over the Islamic republic.

"This unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community at large. We have received representations from the Sikh community expressing grave concern at this decision by Pakistan targeting the rights of the minority Sikh community in Pakistan," said a statement issued by India's Ministry of External Affairs today to condemn the developments in Kartarpur.

"Such actions only expose the reality of the Pakistani government and its leadership's tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the religious minority communities. Pakistan is called upon to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the Sikh minority community its right to manage affairs of the Holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib," it added.

Only a few months ago, India had lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan High Commission on attempts being made to convert Gurdwara Shahidi Asthan, the site of martyrdom of Bhai Taru Singh ji at Naulakha Bazaar in Lahore, into Masjid Shahid Ganj.

"Pakistan's minorities often live under a cloud of fear and insecurity, particularly if they belong to disadvantaged classes or castes, or are continuously scapegoated and demonized by the powerful. Instead of receiving protection, vulnerable groups are ignored or thrown under the bus, over and over again, as they navigate layers of systemic discrimination and deeply rooted cultural biases, making some feel like lesser citizens in their country of birth," observed Pakistan's leading national daily Dawn in an editorial in May.

Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Balochs, Ahmadis, Hazaras and other religious minorities remain under constant attack with their places of worship destroyed by radical Islamists, men murdered by state-backed forces and women abducted, forcibly converted and sold or married off by the likes of Mian Mitthu, who is infamous for his role in abduction of girls belonging to Hindu and other minority communities and converting them to Islam in Pakistan.

(Under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

(IANS)