Pakistan will soon become the first country to introduce a special law for the solemnisation and registration of marriages in its minority Sikh community.
Announcing the decision, caretaker Law Minister Afzal Haider said, "The contemplated law will be the first such legislation anywhere in the world, including India where Sikh community marriages are solemnised under the Hindu Marriages Act."
"A special marriage legislation was a long-standing demand of the minority community as no legislation governing marriages exists in Pakistan," he said.
Haider said the proposed Sikh Marriages Ordinance 2007, which is in the final stage of processing, will be promulgated soon. Under the ordinance, Sikhs from any part of the world can come to Pakistan to solemnise marriages and avail of the facility of registration, he said.
Six places -- Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion -- will be specified under the ordinance for solemnising marriages.
Haider said the number of places for solemnising marriages could be increased in consultation with Sikh representatives in Pakistan and Punjab Sahib could also be added to the list.
He said delegations of the community had met him and expressed their gratitude for the government's initiative to enact the special law.
"I have also received a string of phone calls from Sikhs in India, Canada and other places who expressed their happiness," he said.
Haider said it was the "religious duty" of Pakistan's majority Muslims to "bring such a law to meet the demands of fellow citizens from different faiths".