Even as Pakistan positions itself as a defender of Sikh rights through its backing of the Khalistan movement, the demolition of the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, near Lahore, on 24 June 2026 has laid bare what Indian officials describe as a fundamental contradiction at the heart of Islamabad's posture. According to officials, the incident — in which the historic shrine associated with the Singh Sabha Movement was razed by locals without official approval — is not an isolated episode but part of a sustained pattern of persecution of Sikhs in Pakistan.

A Community Under Siege

Officials say the Sikh community is among the most persecuted minorities in Pakistan, second only to Hindus. The numbers tell a stark story: prior to the 1947 Partition, Pakistan was home to over 2 lakh Sikhs, representing 6.1% of the population according to the 1941 Census. Today, that figure has collapsed to an estimated 15,000 — barely 0.1% of the population. Of the nearly 345 Sikh shrines in Pakistan, many are non-functional, and others have reportedly been illegally occupied by land mafias, according to officials.

A Pattern of Demolitions and Violence

The Farooqabad demolition is the latest in a series of incidents targeting Sikh religious sites. Earlier this year, the Gurdwara Chobacha Sahib in Dharampura — associated with the Sixth Sikh Guru — was demolished without explanation, with community protests going unheeded. In June 2026, unknown assailants shot dead Jagannath and his wife Asma Want, an elderly Sikh couple who served as caretakers of a Gurdwara in Mardan district's Babu Mohalla area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib — the birthplace of Guru Nanak — has also faced threats, with an angry mob pelting stones at the shrine in 2020. According to an Intelligence Bureau official, the site remains tense and fresh attempts to incite violence around it are reportedly ongoing. The role of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the body mandated to protect and maintain such shrines, has come under scrutiny amid repeated failures.

India's External Affairs Ministry Responds

India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a formal statement on the Farooqabad demolition, saying: 'We have seen the deeply distressing reports regarding the demolition of the historic 125-year-old sacred Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, Pakistan.' The statement marked a rare direct intervention by New Delhi on the condition of Sikh minorities across the border. Officials noted that groups associated with the Khalistan movement — including those based abroad such as Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) — have not issued any condemnation of the atrocities against Sikhs in Pakistan.

Khalistan Terror Groups Training Alongside Lashkar

This comes amid fresh intelligence inputs, according to officials, that cadres of the Babbar Khalistan International (BKI), Khalistan Liberation Army (KLA), and Lashkar-e-Tayiba have been conducting joint training sessions at Minawali, Chakwal, and Khot Lakhpat. Officials say the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has designated top Lashkar-e-Tayiba trainers to impart training to these Khalistan terror groups — a detail that, they argue, conclusively exposes the operational linkage between Pakistan's spy apparatus and the Khalistan separatist network. 'This clearly establishes not just the hypocrisy of these Khalistan terror groups, but also shows how closely linked they are to Pakistan and its spy agency, the ISI,' an official said.

The Wider Contradiction

The central argument advanced by Indian officials is that Pakistan's championing of a Sikh homeland is a geopolitical instrument, not a humanitarian one. The narrative that India persecutes Sikhs — used to justify the demand for a separate Khalistan carved out of Punjab — sits uneasily alongside Pakistan's own record of targeted killings, abductions, forced conversions, and the use of blasphemy laws against its Sikh population. Notably, Islamabad has remained publicly silent on each of these incidents even as it amplifies Khalistan rhetoric internationally. With Sikh outrage growing both in India and across the diaspora, the demolition of Farooqabad's Gurdwara may sharpen scrutiny of Pakistan's dual posture on Sikh rights.