Pakistan's Punjab is the first woman CM, also the first time a Sikh has been made a minister

Islamabad, dt. 07 March 2024 Thursday

Pakistan's Punjab province has seen two consecutive incidents which have never happened before. First, Punjab got its first woman Chief Minister in the form of Maryam Nawaz. Now for the first time in the history of Punjab, a Sikh has also been made a minister. Ramesh Singh Arora, 48, an MLA from Narowal, on Wednesday became the first person from the minority Sikh community to be sworn in as a minister in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Ramesh Singh Arora is a three-time member of the Provincial Assembly from Narowal. He was sworn in as a minister in the recently elected Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) government headed by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The ceremony was organized at the Governor's House, Lahore. Maryam's uncle Shahbaz Sharif was recently elected as the Prime Minister of the neighboring country.

Arora said, this is the first time since partition in 1947 that a Sikh has been included in the cabinet of Punjab province. I will work for the safety and welfare of not only Sikhs but all minorities including Hindus and Christians living in Pakistan. Arora was also recently elected as the President of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

It may be mentioned that Arora was re-elected as Member of Legislative Assembly from Narowal in the recently held elections in Pakistan. They are residents there. This is the place where Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak, is located. He was also appointed as the ambassador for the Kartarpur Corridor last year.

Arora said that during the partition in 1947, his family chose to stay in Pakistan instead of staying in India like many Sikh/Hindu families. He said, I was born in Nankana Sahib but later we moved to Narowal. My grandfather chose to stay in Pakistan during partition on the insistence of his dear friend. He decided to stay there only because of friendship. Arora is likely to get the charge of minority affairs department.

A postgraduate in Entrepreneurship and SME Management from Government College University, Lahore, Arora worked for the World Bank's poverty alleviation program in Pakistan before entering politics. In 2008, he founded the Mojaj Foundation, an organization working for the underprivileged and destitute in Pakistan. Maryam, the 50-year-old daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of Pakistan's most populous and politically important Punjab province last week. Maryam is considered the political successor of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 74.