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Pak army gets
its first Sikh officer
WSN Network
 Islamabad: One person clearly stood out among the latest batch of
smartly turned out cadets that graduated from the Pakistan Military
Academy — the country’s first Sikh army officer Harcharan Singh.
Singh, who was conspicuous due to his green turban and beard,
marched in step with his fellow cadets before the army’s vice chief,
Lt Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, during the passing out parade on
Saturday. Once the official ceremony was over, the 21-year-old
officer joined his relatives and friends from Nankana Sahib, the
birthplace of Guru Nanak, in a spirited ‘bhangra’ dance to the beat
of drums. He also became emotional on meeting his parents after the
parade. “It is a matter of great privilege and an honour for me that
today I am standing in front of you in the khaki uniform. I have
been given a great responsibility,” Singh told reporters at the
academy at Abbottabad in the North West Frontier Province, about 120
km from Islamabad. “With the passage of time, I will prove that we
(Sikhs) are more loyal than our Muslim brothers. I thank the
Pakistan army that I have been given this chance,” said the cadet
who first came to the limelight in 2005 when he became the first
member of Pakistan’s minority Sikh community to be recruited by the
army.
Born in 1986 in Nankana Sahib, Singh was part of the Pakistan
Military Academy’s 116th Long Course. In December last year, he
joined the first group of Pakistani cadets to be posted for guard
duties at the mausoleum of the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, in Karachi. During a visit to the mausoleum at that time,
President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the army chief, had said
more Sikhs would be recruited in the force in the future.
.31
October,
2007
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