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Pakistan gets first Sikh minister in Punjab province

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Ramesh Singh Arora (2nd L) takes oath as a minister at the Provincial Assembly in Lahore, Pakistan on March 6, 2024.

Lahore, Mar 7 (PTI) Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, a three-term legislator, was on Thursday sworn in as a provincial minister, making him the first Sikh to occupy such a position in post-partition Punjab.

Arora has been allotted the portfolio of minorities of Punjab province in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet, a report in Dawn.com said.

Belonging to the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, Arora has returned to the Lahore provincial assembly for the third term after winning the February 8 polls.

Hailing from the district of Narowal, Arora was also the first-ever Sikh member of the Punjab provincial assembly taking oath in 2013.

Another member representing the Christian minority community of Punjab, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, has also been inducted into the Punjab cabinet and has been assigned the portfolio of human rights.