Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhry has lashed out at a model for hurting the Sikh community after she posed ‘bareheaded’ for a clothing ad at the Kartarpur Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
Taking to Twitter, the information minister wrote: “The Designer and the model must apologise to Sikh Community. KartarPur Sahib is a religious symbol and not a film set.”
According to reports, the woman who runs Mannat, a ready-to-wear women’s online clothing store in Pakistan, got a photo-shoot done at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib complex in the recent past with the model posing bareheaded with her back towards the Gurdwara.
In the now-deleted photographs, the woman is seen wearing a red suit posing for the camera without covering her head with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in the background.
It should be noted that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the single largest representative body of Sikhs, has pasted posters inside the gurdwara complex cautioning devotees not to shoot entertainment videos after a few of them were caught shooting TikTok videos.
Many have criticised the model and demanded her apology. Former president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Paramjit Singh Sarna said in a statement that this is a “highly objectionable” act that has “severely hurt” the Sikh religious sentiments.
Sarna said that he would take up the issue with the Chairman of Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board Dr Amar Ahmad on priority and ask him to make the PMU staff aware of the Sikh “rehat maryada” (Sikh code of religious conduct).
He called upon Pakistani authorities to place written instructions in Urdu about Sikh “Maryada”. He also urged the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) and local authorities in Narowal that visitors to the historical shrine must be sensitised about the Sikh code of conduct applicable at gurdwaras.
Last week, several Sikh pilgrims visited the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan on the 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
