Pakistan's diplomatic outreach to the Sikh diaspora in the United States has thrown into sharp relief a stark contradiction: while Pakistani officials abroad promote heritage restoration and religious tourism, several Gurdwaras inside Pakistan reportedly continue to face neglect, encroachment, and demolition. A detailed report by Khalsa Vox has documented the gap between Islamabad's international claims and ground realities for the Sikh minority community.

Pakistani Officials' US Outreach Under Scrutiny

According to the report, Ramesh Singh Arora, Punjab's Minister for Minority Affairs and President of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, recently visited Gurdwaras across the US. He reportedly sought diaspora participation in heritage restoration under the 'Adopt a Gurdwara' initiative and extended invitations for Gurpurab celebrations in November, citing promises of simplified visa procedures.

Social media posts also alleged that cash and cashier's cheques were collected from American Gurdwara committees during these visits, according to the Khalsa Vox report. These claims have not been independently verified.

Separately, Anjum Javaid, reportedly linked to Punjab's Directorate General of Archaeology, addressed an event titled 'The Sikh Kingdom' in Lathrop, California. He allegedly proposed an economic corridor linking Nankana Sahib and the Khyber Pass — encompassing the redevelopment of Jamrud Fort and Baba Phoola Singh Chhauni — and claimed that approximately USD 700 million had been secured, including USD 94 million from the World Bank, to support heritage development and attract Sikh tourists annually.

Ground Reality: Gurdwaras in Disrepair and Under Threat

These pronouncements, critics argue, stand in direct contradiction to Pakistan's documented record on protecting Sikh heritage. Several Gurdwaras across the country have reportedly fallen into severe disrepair, faced encroachment, or been repurposed for alternate uses. Attacks on Sikh community members, religious discrimination, and persistent security concerns have further exposed the vulnerability of Pakistan's minority communities, according to Khalsa Vox.

This is not an isolated pattern. Minority heritage sites in Pakistan have faced repeated incidents of vandalism, illegal occupation, and governmental inaction over the years, making the latest outreach campaign appear, to critics, more performative than substantive.

Farooqabad Demolition: A Community's Heritage in Rubble

The most documented recent incident involves the demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, Pakistan. In July, portions of the historic shrine were reduced to rubble after a local businessman allegedly carried out the work without any legal clearance or court order.

The Khalsa Vox report described the events of the night of 24 June in stark terms: 'For the Sikh community of Farooqabad, the night of June 24 was not an abstraction. It was the sound of machinery tearing into a building their grandparents' grandparents had prayed in — a gurdwara built over a century ago, when the Singh Sabha movement was still reshaping what it meant to be Sikh in a modernising Punjab. By morning, portions of the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib lay in rubble, demolished by a local businessman who never bothered to seek the legal clearance required to touch it. No court order. No warning to the community that has treated this ground as sacred for generations.'

Authorities acknowledged the demolition only after Sikh residents of Farooqabad took to the streets in protest. An official reportedly admitted that the relevant department had failed to take notice until the community was forced to act.

Institutional Neglect and Minority Vulnerability

The Khalsa Vox report framed the Farooqabad incident not as a bureaucratic lapse but as symptomatic of deeper structural neglect. 'That is the real story here — not a bureaucratic lapse, but a community once again forced to fight for the right to simply exist and be remembered. The Sikhs of Farooqabad did not have the luxury of trusting their government to protect what mattered to them. They had to protest to be seen at all,' the report noted.

This comes amid growing international scrutiny of Pakistan's treatment of its minority communities, with human rights organisations and diaspora groups increasingly documenting specific incidents to challenge Islamabad's official narrative. Whether the ongoing outreach to Sikh diaspora communities abroad translates into tangible protections inside Pakistan remains, for now, an open question.