Lahore: After having its first woman Chief Minister with Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Punjab province witnessed another historic moment as Ramesh Singh Arora became the first Sikh minister to take oath in the Muslim-majority provincial cabinet. Arora, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker, was elected to the provincial assembly for his third term but it is the first time he has received a ministry.

Arora hails from the Narowal district and has been allotted the minorities portfolio in the Punjab provincial cabinet, reported Geo News. Meanwhile, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, another religious minority member from Punjab, has also been inducted into the provincial cabinet alongside Arora. Sindhu has been assigned the portfolio of human rights. 

Jailed former Prime Minster Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had also introduced a Sikh MPA to the Punjab Assembly in the form of Mahendra Pal Singh, but he could not return to the assembly in 2024 as the party was unable to secure its quota of reserved seats.

Since 1970, various political parties or alliances, such as the PML-N, Pakistan Peoples Party, Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid, and PTI, have formed governments. However, the PML-N stands out as the only party to bring the first Sikh MPA to the house and include him in the cabinet.

Who is Ramesh Singh Arora?

Arora was born in Nankana Sahib and holds a postgraduate degree in entrepreneurship and SME management from Government College University in Lahore. His family has been associated with the protection and welfare of Sikh holy sites at Kartarpur.

He became the first Sikh politician in Pakistan during his first term in the Punjab provincial cabinet from 2013 to 2018. He previously served as the general secretary of the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC), a member of the National Commission for Minorities under the Ministry of National Harmony and a member of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in Punjab.

The lawmaker has also vouched for the implementation of the Sikh Marriage Act and the establishment of policies to protect all minority groups. According to reports, Arora’s brother Manjit Singh Pinka, was wanted by India for the 1984 hijacking of IC 405, which ran from Srinagar to Lahore. 

Maryam Nawaz becomes first woman CM

Maryam, the 50-year-old senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, made history by winning the chief ministerial elections amidst a walkout by lawmakers of former prime minister Imran Khan’s party-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), thus becoming the first woman CM in Pakistan’s history.

The PML-N leader defeated Rana Aftab of the PTI-backed SIC to win the chief ministerial elections for the politically crucial Punjab province, home to 120 million people. The PML-N leader said she had seen hard times like imprisonment but was thankful to her opponents for making her strong. “But I will not seek revenge,” she said, indirectly referring to former Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.

Maryam received 220 votes and won the chief ministerial elections for the politically crucial Punjab province, home to 120 million people. She defeated Rana Aftab of the PTI-backed SIC, who received no votes as his party boycotted the election. The PTI dubbed her as ‘fake CM’ amid allegations of rigging, claiming she had lost by 800 votes.

Maryam was backed by PML-N allies, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) as 103 SIC members took oath from its total of  The PML-N won 137 seats while independents backed by Imran won 113.

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