He was sworn in along with 17 others on Wednesday.
Lahore:
Influential minority leader Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora has been sworn in as provincial minister, making him the first Sikh to hold a ministerial post in Punjab after partition.
Arora, who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, returned to the Lahore Provincial Assembly to start her third term after winning the February 8 polls. term.
Arora, 49, was recently elected as the Pardhan (chairman) of the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee and serves as ambassador to the Kartarpur Corridor.
He was sworn in along with 17 others on Wednesday.
Arora was assigned a minority portfolio in Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s cabinet, and incidentally, she was also the first woman to hold the post in the country.
According to sources, Arora has close ties with the military.
“Singh’s brother is also looking after the affairs of the Karatapur corridor,” Khalil Tahir Sindhu, another member representing Punjab’s Christian minority, told PTI on Thursday.
Born in Nankana Sahib on October 11, 1974, Arora hails from Narowal district and was the first Sikh member of the Punjab Assembly who was sworn in in 2013. He completed his postgraduate studies in Social Enterprise and studied at Government College, Lahore, Punjab University, Lahore and Harvard Business School, USA.
He has also served as a member of the National Commission for Minorities, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Commerce and Investment and remains the Chief Patron of the Pakistan Sikh Council.
According to Arora’s profile on the official website of the Punjab Assembly, he is also a well-known human rights activist and social worker who played a prominent role in protecting the rights of the Sikh community in Pakistan and was recognized for the Pakistan Sikh Bill was praised for its passage. Punjab Sikh Anand Kalaj Marriage Act 2018. Thanks to his efforts, Pakistan became the first country to implement the Sikh Marriage Registration Act.
He has also served as a member of the Evacuees Trust Board (ETPB) of the Government of Punjab; as a member of the National Commission for Minorities, Ministry of Ethnic Harmony from 2011-13; and as Secretary General of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee from 2009-13.
In 2016, he was awarded the National Human Rights Award by the President of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Sindhu was among 17 others who were also inducted into the Punjab cabinet. He was assigned responsibility for human rights.
Sindhu had previously served as a minister in the 2013-18 Punjab cabinet led by Sherbaz Sharif, who is now serving as prime minister in his second term.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
