Pakistan’s Sikh heritage

Sikhism in present day Pakistan area has an extensive heritage and history, although Sikhs form a very small community in Pakistan today. Most Sikhs live in the province of Punjab and Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, is located in the Punjab province. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Sikh community became a powerful political force, with Sikh leader Ranjit Singh founding the first Sikh empire, which had its capital in Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan today. Significant populations of Sikhs inhabited the largest cities in the Punjab such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindu and Sikh migrated to India while many Muslim refugees from India settled in Pakistan.