Our Best Friends
The Noble 'Servant' of Peshawar
by SHAHEEN BUNERI
Khurshid Khan, an eminent 60-year-old lawyer and deputy attorney general
of Pakistan, wants to "heal the wounds" of the terror-stricken minority
Sikh community in that country.
So he does an extraordinary
thing at a gurdwara in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Every day
when he completes his work as a legal expert, Khan visits a Sikh gurdwara in the center of the city, wraps a piece of cloth around his head to cover it and thus show his respect, and sits in the doorway to shine the shoes of Sikhs,
whose community has come under frequent attack by Taliban militants over
the last few years.
[The act of cleaning the shoes of others is, in the culture of the subcontinent, the ultimate act of humilty and repentance.]
Two months back, militants in the Khyber Agency
region abducted three Sikhs and demanded a huge ransom for their release. Two
were eventually freed. But one, Sardar Jaspal Singh, was killed in a brutal
fashion and his corpse left on the roadside in the tribal area.
"I
went to offer my condolences to the family of Jaspal Singh and that was
a turning point in my life," says Khan. "I
realized that as a Pashtun I should work to 'heal their wounds' by
becoming their sevaadar (servant). I want to give them a message of love
and brotherhood, and that's why every day I am here to shine their
shoes."
Khan says he is himself a landlord and doesn't even shine
his own shoes at his home. But his cause inspires him to sit on the
ground on a daily basis and shine 70 to 80 pairs of shoes.
"I
can see the light of love in their eyes for me and my people," he
maintains.
He adds that Sikhs have lived in the area with the
dominant Pashtun communities for centuries, pay taxes, and play an
important role in the economic progress of the region. But still, he
laments, we fail to protect their lives and property.
They are
being killed and kidnapped by the Taliban in Orakzai, Kurrum, and Khyber
tribal regions, Khan says, adding that other Pakistanis must stand by
them in these critical hours and give them a sense of oneness and
brotherhood.
An estimated 28,000 Sikhs live in Pakistan,
including about 10,000 who live in the tribal region and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province of the conflict-ridden country. In May 2009,
Taliban militants destroyed 11 Sikh homes in the Orakzai tribal district
after accusing them of failing to pay "taxes." The ongoing conflict in
the Buner and Swat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has displaced more
than 200 families.
[Courtesy: Radio Free Europe]
June 4, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Sukhindarpal SIngh (Penang, Malaysia), June 04, 2010, 11:14 AM.
Adaab, Khan Sahib. Thank you for doing what you are doing. I just finished watching "My name is Khan" with my kids and have just told them your real story vis a vis the reel story. It is humbling to see you do the seva, what more the seva is being done by a brother-at-law. "Ek pita ekas hum barik" rings true. GuruRakha.
2: Chintan Singh (San Jose, California, U.S.A.), June 04, 2010, 4:12 PM.
This truly is an example of 'Ek pita ekas hum barik' and the core of Sikh Philosophy of treating all as God's creation and serving anyone in need. Wish there were more Khurshid Khan's within and outside the Sikh community.
3: Kirpal Singh (Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.A.), June 04, 2010, 8:51 PM.
Salaam and thank you, Khan Sahib, for your unique way of sympathy towards the suffering Sikh community in your area. May Allah bless you and your family with good health and happiness in every sphere of life.
4: Bhupinder Singh (New Delhi, India), June 05, 2010, 10:09 AM.
My highest appreciation for this noble gesture which is real religion.
5: R. Singh (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), June 05, 2010, 10:27 PM.
We need to invite this wonderful person and honour him in Canada. We may learn something about putting salve on a hurting person's wounds, something that was completely missed by those who stood by and kept mum about 1984 and 2002, including some of us Sikhs.
6: Pam Grewall (U.S.A.), June 07, 2010, 12:48 PM.
There are only two kinds of people in the world ... manmukh and gurmukh. They can be men, women, rich, poor, follow any religious practices, belong to any faith ... but they are distinguished within those variations by whether they follow their own ego (manmukh) or the teachings of the true Gurus of their faith (gurmukh). Khan Sahib is obviously a true Muslim and a gurmukh ... an insaan (human being), not just an aadmi (man). I humbly thank you for your efforts and pray for you and yours.
7: Colonel Harinder Singh Attari (Noida, India), June 07, 2010, 2:21 PM.
I was born in Lahore and started my education from Aitchison Chiefs College, Lahore. A son of Liyaqat Ali Khan was studying with me and we use to exchange our meat dishes on the dining table because he liked the taste of what was cooked for us. The tinge of brotherthood has to be revived and you have set an example. God bless you.
8: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), June 08, 2010, 8:03 PM.
I never met him. I spoke to him once. When, I was one day handed a handsome gift-box set of 4 CDs. In the corner was written his name, Abid Mir, and a telephone number and address. Abid Mir ran a famous carpet gallery. The CD box was inscribed: "NA MELA NA DHUNDLA, NA BHAGWA NA KACH, NANAK LAL-O - LAL HAI SACHAY RATTA SACH". I phoned my friend Inderjit Singh who was then staying with his daughter Juhi in Singapore. Yes, he had met him a few times and Abid Mir never failed to amaze him. He had been distributing free CDs of Guru Nanak's bani on a regular basis. He could be seen weekly at the Selat Road Gurdwara sitting devotedly near the kirtanias, his head covered, he lost to the outside world. Later on, he could be found in the langar hall doing seva. I was told that he not only donated generously towards langar but also helped in preparing it. His specialty was to produce sweet dishes. I am sure readers of sikhchic.com in Singapore might supply further details on this amazing man underlying "Ek pita ekas ka hum barak" in actual day-to-day living!
9: Devinder Singh Gill (Markham, Ontario, Canada), July 14, 2010, 1:54 PM.
Khurshid Khan ji: Waheguru aap nu hameshaa chardi kalaa vicch rakhe, eh hi saadi ardaas hai. May Akal Purakh bless you and your family with your dreams.
10: Sukhprit Singh (New Delhi, India), August 04, 2010, 2:25 PM.
Waheguru ji twaadhi har manokaamna poori karega!
11: Jamil Mirza (Lahore, Pakistan), October 29, 2010, 2:09 AM.
Being a Muslim and a Punjabi, I appreciate the act of Kurshid Khan. He's a true human being and a Muslim.