SC dismisses request for inclusion of section for Sikhs in census forms

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice on Monday dismissed the Sindh and Peshawar high courts request of including an option for Sikhs in the religion section of the census form.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said that the first phase of census is completed in more than half of the districts of the country. It would now not be possible to print new forms, he said. The forms are in machine readable form therefore the section cannot even be made manually as the machine will not recognise them.

The court ruled that census cannot take place in areas where it has been completed.

The census form does not have a box for Sikhs to mark their religion though there is one for Hindus and Christians.

A Sikh community leader had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court demanding inclusion of Sikhism in the religion column in the census form.

The divisional bench in SHC heard the case on March 21 and sent notices to the chief census commissioner and provincial census commissioner to submit their response.