Even as New Delhi expressed concern over their well-being, Pakistani Sikhs have said that the majority Muslims are also a target of the Taliban, and the issue is a “national” problem rather than a “communal” one. This follows reports that that the Taliban were displacing Sikhs and levying special taxes (jaziya) on them in Pakistan’s northwest region.

“Eh maslaa sirf Sikhaan da nahin ae. Suba sarhad tay FATA wich musalmaan, jo ki aksariyat wich nay, ohna naal wi Taliban tushaddat kar rahey ney. (This is not a Sikh issue. The majority Muslims living in NWFP and FATA are also being tortured by the Taliban),” said Bishen Singh, the president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.

Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone from Lahore, Singh added: “Please don’t make it a political and international issue that only Sikhs are being targeted in Pakistan. That is completely untrue. The Muslims of the Taliban-infested areas are worse off than us and other minorities like the Hindus and Christians there. To tell the truth, we are safer than them because the Taliban know that our families have been living in the north for at least 300 years, so they are soft on us. They asked for the jaziya money and we paid them, whereas the Muslims are abducted and held to ransom. If the ransom is not paid, they are killed. Waheguru is kind that no Sikh was even touched while hundreds of Muslims have been killed.”

Over 100 families are reported to have fled the region in the last fortnight. Pakistan’s Evacuee Property Trust Board has launched relief operations, making living arrangements in prominent gurdwaras of the country.