Public perception and strategic image-building often obscure severe foundational problems. When individuals experience personal warmth abroad, they frequently overlook the broader systemic crises unfolding within a hostile state. Pakistan’s public relations machinery works tirelessly to counter its global standing, projecting a facade of religious pluralism that has led some Indian public figures to claim that Pakistani society is secular and open-minded.

A prominent example emerged when popular Indian playback singer Mika Singh publicly argued that Pakistani Muslims are unfairly judged, asserting that they manage Sikh historical shrines with great care and devotion.

Appearing on the Baatein Dil Se video podcast hosted by prominent journalist Navika Kumar and released on October 2, Mika Singh openly questioned why Indian citizens maintain deep reservations about Pakistani Muslims while holding Muslims living in Dubai in high esteem. Defending the majority community across the western border, the singer highlighted the upkeep of Sikh heritage sites, recounting personal visits where local Muslims actively assisted in cleaning and running the shrines.

Mika Singh traced his affection for Pakistan directly to the presence of three foundational Sikh pilgrimage destinations: Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, and Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal. Reflecting on his travel experiences, he remarked:

“When I went to Pakistan, many Muslims who are our brothers have served at the gurdwaras and helped with the cleaning.”

The singer went on to elaborate on his perspective regarding public sentiment toward citizens across the border:

“Pakistan bura nahin. Pakistan ke log kahin se bure nahin hain. Ye bas pata nahin kyun humein Pakistan ke hi Musalman kharaab lagte hain. Lekin Dubai ke Musalman bahut achhe lagte hain. Ye mujhe aaj tak nahin samajh aaya. (Pakistan isn’t bad. The people of Pakistan aren’t bad at all. I just don’t know why, but for some reason, we seem to dislike Muslims from Pakistan. But we really like Muslims from Dubai. I’ve never understood that),”

Emphasizing that his visits were driven by spiritual connection rather than commercial benefit, Singh stated:

“Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib are there. There are three very important gurdwaras in Pakistan. For me, it is not about money. The first thought is that I can reach the gurdwara through this… If Pakistanis are giving me respect, we should be happy about it. At least there is someone who is going there and performing.”

As an internationally recognized artist, Mika Singh was undoubtedly treated with elite courtesy and hospitality. For Pakistani authorities, welcoming visiting Indian artists provides a valuable public relations tool to soften the country’s international reputation as a state sponsor of terrorism. However, Mika Singh’s rosy impression stands in stark contrast to verified documentation detailing religious persecution, shrine desecrations, forced conversions, and the rapid demographic decline of non-Muslim communities across Pakistan.

The Condition of Historical Sikh Gurudwaras Across Pakistan

Official government evaluations and independent heritage surveys expose widespread neglect and decay of non-Muslim shrines throughout Pakistan. In December 2025, Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on Minority Caucus heard official testimony that out of 1,285 Hindu shrines and 532 Sikh Gurudwaras across the country, a mere 37 remain operational. Officials attributed this collapse to two structural causes: the drastic depletion of Hindu and Sikh communities and persistent negligence by the state-managed Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).

Independent field assessments confirm this devastation. A comprehensive architectural and historical audit focused strictly on Lahore district identified 42 historic Sikh shrines. Of these, only five remain functional for daily prayers. A single shrine is maintained but kept closed, 14 standing buildings have been unlawfully occupied and settled by local residents, eight lie completely abandoned in advanced states of decay, and 14 have been entirely erased from the map, demolished to make way for modern commercial and residential structures.

Targeted attacks and unauthorized demolitions of Sikh religious heritage have continued unabated in recent years:

Demolition in Farooqabad (June 2026): On the night of June 24–25, 2026, the 125-year-old Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib in Farooqabad, near Nankana Sahib—a landmark connected to the historical Singh Sabha reform movement—was brought down by a commercial builder without required administrative permits. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs condemned the incident as a “highly deplorable and targeted act of vandalism,”* calling for an immediate investigation and structural reconstruction. Local Sikh leaders pointed out that earlier historical landmarks, including Gurdwara Chobacha Sahib, had suffered similar destruction without any official accountability.

• Erasure in Quetta (August 2026): Sikh residents in Quetta raised alarms after Gurdwara Sri Singh Sabha on Archer Road, which had been converted into an educational facility for decades, was completely razed to develop a commercial shopping plaza without community consent. Community leaders noted that dozens of pre-Partition Sikh shrines in Quetta remain occupied by unauthorized occupants.
• Land Seizures and Destruction (2019): Reports surfaced detailing the illegal partial demolition and subsequent sale of structural fittings at Nanak Mahal in Narowal. Concurrently, highly valued institutional land attached to Gurdwara Bebe Nanaki, situated near Lahore's historic Gurdwara Dehra Sahib, was commercialized and auctioned off.
• Mob Siege at Nankana Sahib (January 2020): Contradicting claims of religious harmony, an aggressive mob besieged Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib. The mob was mobilized by Mohammed Imran, the brother of Mohammed Hassan—a man accused of abducting and forcibly converting a young Sikh woman—after the victim's family pursued formal police intervention.
• Opposition to Kartarpur and Structural Collapse (2020): Even the construction of the Kartarpur Corridor faced vitriolic internal pushback. The late Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), declared that the Islamic republic was never established to support Sikh academic institutions or facilitate pilgrimage routes, stating that those advocating for the minority group should relocate to Amritsar. Shortly thereafter, in April 2020, severe winds caused five newly built domes at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur to collapse, exposing substandard construction quality.
• Repeated Vandalism of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Monument: A nine-foot bronze statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh inside the Lahore Fort was repeatedly attacked. First vandalized in 2019 following India’s abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, it was attacked again in 2020 by an individual named Zaheer, who broke the statue's arm after being radicalized by Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s speeches. In 2021, the statue was destroyed a third time, leaving only the horse intact.

Systematic Neglect and Destruction of Ancient Pre-Islamic and Hindu Heritage

Pakistan's institutional hostility extends beyond Sikh religious sites to the region’s pre-Islamic heritage. The state has historically viewed its ancient civilizational roots as an era of Jahiliyyah—an age of spiritual darkness supposedly redeemed only by the arrival of Islam led by Muhammad bin Qasim. This ideological framework has led to the deliberate neglect and destruction of non-Islamic archaeological treasures.

Archaeological Tampering in Taxila (July 2026): The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially intervened, directing Pakistani authorities to roll back unauthorized renovations and “unnecessary interventions”* carried out at the Kushan-era Buddhist monastery and stupa complex of Mohra Moradu and the Indo-Greek urban layer of Sirkap. Situated within the ancient Taxila (Takshashila) corridor in Rawalpindi district, these UNESCO World Heritage monuments trace back from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE.

• Detonation of the Swat Buddha (October 2009): In the Swat Valley, a monumental 7th-century rock-carved Buddha was systematically destroyed by Taliban militants. Perpetrators drilled deep holes into the statue's facial structure, shoulders, and feet, packed them with high explosives, and blew up its upper body in an attack reminiscent of the 2001 destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.
• Destruction of Historic Temples Along the LoC and Sindh (2023): As part of ongoing heritage erasure, authorities oversaw the demolition of the Hinglaj Mata Mandir in Sindh province. Furthermore, Sharda Peeth, an ancient center of learning along the Line of Control holding UNESCO recognition, suffered extensive damage, offering no protection against targeted state neglect.
• Commercialization of the Khyber Temple (2025): In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border, a historic Hindu temple abandoned during the 1947 Partition was flattened to make way for a commercial plaza. Located in Landi Kotal Bazaar within Khyber district, the building had deteriorated under state indifference before being handed over to private developers.
• Rocket Attacks on Sindh Shrines (July 2023): Armed gangs attacked a Hindu place of worship in the Kashmore district of Sindh using rocket-propelled grenades. Attackers fired munitions indiscriminately into the shrine and neighboring residences belonging to minority community members.
• Razing of Karachi’s Mari Mata Temple (July 2023): In the Soldier Bazaar neighborhood of Karachi, local administrative authorities mobilized bulldozers under cover of darkness to demolish the 150-year-old Mari Mata Temple.
• Commercial Seizure of Panj Tirath: Peshawar’s 1,000-year-old Panj Tirath site remained tied up in legal challenges for over three years. Despite receiving official National Heritage status in 2019, investigative reports confirmed the ancient complex had been occupied and converted into an equipment storehouse for a commercial amusement park.

Factoring in the dozens of shrines destroyed during retaliatory violence throughout the 1990s and prior decades reveals a continuous pattern of erasure, structural expropriation, and systemic neglect targeting the region's ancient roots.

Institutional Persecution: Forced Abductions, Marriages, and Conversions

Minority communities in Pakistan face extreme physical and legal peril. Independent documentation paints an alarming picture of routine abductions and forced conversions:

• Widespread Kidnappings: Statistical assessments by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP) indicate that roughly 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls between the ages of 12 and 25 are abducted every year in Pakistan. Police forces frequently refuse to register official complaints or actively shield perpetrators.
• Established Modus Operandi (October 2024): A comprehensive human rights brief released by Jubilee Campaign documented a recurring pattern: adult Muslim men, often already married with families, target young girls from neighboring Christian or Hindu households. Perpetrators rely on religious legal exceptions under Sharia, an uncooperative police apparatus, and compliant clerics who forge fraudulent documentation misrepresenting the minor's age, religious status, and marital consent.
• Case of Muskan (May 2023–June 2025): A young Christian minor named Muskan was abducted at gunpoint in Sheikhupura by Mohammad Adnan and his father. Forced into an Islamic marriage, she endured relentless abuse in captivity. Fourteen-year-old Muskan Liyaqat eventually managed to escape in June from Muridke after nearly two years. She described being beaten with iron rods, subjected to religious slurs, and suffering a forced miscarriage resulting from physical torture.

Case of Shifa: In another incident documented by the Jubilee Campaign, a police officer explicitly told the father of an abducted 14-year-old Christian girl named Shifa, “Your daughter will never return to you, inshallah [if Allah wills].”* In court, her 48-year-old captor, Syed Shabbar Ali Gillani, submitted fraudulent paperwork claiming the 14-year-old girl was 18. Investigations confirmed the minor had initially been kidnapped by a neighbor, Najma Liaquat.

• Organized Conversion Centers in Sindh: In February 2023, a 17-year-old Hindu girl was abducted and converted in Sindh. The district of Mirpur Khas remains a known center for mass religious conversion camps. Multiple reports indicate that entire families are pressured into conversion, after which they are housed in designated facilities for months to undergo religious indoctrination. In May 2023, approximately 50 Hindu individuals were converted simultaneously and kept under four months of supervised religious training.

The HRCP Report (March 2025): The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan published “Under Siege: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2023/24,”* providing extensive documentation of mob violence, targeted abductions, judicial failure, and systemic discrimination against non-Muslims, particularly in Sindh.
Demographic Breakdown of Victims: In 2022 alone, 124 documented forced conversions occurred, including 81 Hindu women, 58% of whom were minors. The Human Rights Observer 2023* fact sheet corroborated this trend, documenting the forced conversions of 81 Hindu, 42 Christian, and one Sikh girl. The demographic breakdown showed that 23% were under 14 years old, 36% were between 14 and 18, only 12% were confirmed adults, and 28% had unrecorded ages.

• Legal and Social Persecution: Beyond physical violence, religious minorities are subjected to routine blasphemy accusations, arbitrary detentions, and state-sanctioned prejudice embedded in school textbooks. In August 2025, Pakistan’s National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) confirmed that children from Sikh, Christian, and Hindu backgrounds face persistent systemic discrimination across educational and social institutions.

The Reality of Pakistan's "Sikh Love" and Cross-Border Aggression

Mika Singh’s claim that Pakistani authorities protect Sikhs out of genuine respect falls apart when compared with cross-border actions. During the military clashes of May 2025, Pakistani forces directed military drones and cruise missiles toward the Sri Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar on the night of May 7–8. This strike was designed to ignite internal unrest and fuel Khalistani separatist agitation within India. The strikes were successfully intercepted by Indian air defense installations, preventing physical damage to the holy site. However, along the Line of Control in Poonch, Pakistani shelling struck a local Gurudwara, killing four Sikh worshippers inside.

The Strategic Calculation Behind Selective Shrine Maintenance

Pakistan’s outward projection of religious preservation serves clear geopolitical and strategic objectives:

1. Appropriating Ancient Heritage: The Pakistani state seeks to position itself as a civilizational entity by laying claim to undivided India's historic roots. This effort aims to build diplomatic leverage in disputes like the Indus Waters Treaty. Yet, as investigative outlets such as OpIndia have noted, this outreach systematically strips away the original Hindu character of these traditions—such as repacking the spring festival of Basant in Lahore as an ordinary kite-flying event rather than a celebration honoring Maa Saraswati.
2. Promoting Pro-Sikh Propaganda: By maintaining three prominent pilgrimage centers, Pakistan secures foreign exchange through managed tourism and creates intelligence opportunities for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), while using the sites as proof of religious tolerance in global diplomatic forums.

These public relations efforts occur alongside hardline ideological rhetoric. Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, frequently appeals to the Two-Nation Theory to enforce religious boundaries. Just days before the Pakistan-orchestrated terror attack in Pahalgam in April 2025, Munir declared to domestic audiences: “We are different from the Hindus.”

This double standard is equally evident in state media policy. While Pakistan maintains a blanket ban on mainstream Indian commercial cinema, it approved the domestic theatrical release of a film starring Indian Sikh actor Diljit Dosanjh alongside Pakistani actress Hania Aamir. Conversely, while authorities banned filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar franchise for exposing state-backed militant networks, they cleared director Honey Trehan’s film Satluj, welcoming its skewed narrative on the Khalistan insurgency that minimized the suffering of innocent victims, particularly Hindus.

The Contrast Between Gulf Societies and Pakistan

Mika Singh expressed confusion over why Indian citizens often view Muslims from Dubai positively while viewing Pakistani society with deep skepticism. This distinction comes down to governance, state policy, and social culture:

Emirati Governance and Social Norms: Local Emirati Muslims, apart from isolated radical elements, operate within a framework that promotes civic stability, economic development, and cultural tolerance. The UAE government formally supported the construction of the landmark BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi. While hardline clerics in other countries criticize the Emirati leadership as Murtad* (apostate) for encouraging religious pluralism, Indian citizens appreciate this mutual respect.

• The Impact of the UAE Environment on Expatriates: Millions of Pakistani expatriates living and working in Dubai operate within strict legal boundaries. Outside the political and religious atmosphere of their home country, these workers encounter diverse cultures and enforceable rule of law, which curbs public sectarianism and encourages social moderation.
• The Root of the Divide: The skepticism expressed by Indians toward Pakistan is not a blanket judgment against every individual, but a response to state-sanctioned bigotry. Given the persecution suffered by Pakistan's Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Ahmadiyya, and Shia populations, sweeping assertions that Pakistani society is naturally secular and tolerant ignore well-documented realities.