Was founded in the 1920's by Sardar Jagat Singh
Narag of Peshawar, a businessman, later a member of the provincial
legislative assembly. The Sikh population of the North-West Frontier
Province was according to the 1941 Census 62,411, about one half
of which were Sahajdhari Sikhs. They were mainly businessmen and
professionals, but a fair number also represented farmers concentrated
chiefly in Hazara district. Sikhism had been introduced in the region
in the days of the early Gurus. A number of Sikh residents were
the descendants of Punjabi soldiers who had settled down here after
the annexation of Peshawar by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1834. Every
town had at least,one gurdwara. Singh Sabhas had been established
in larger towns such as Haripur (1886), Kohat (1886-87), Loralai
(1903) and Peshawar (1905). All the Singh Sabhas in the province
came to be affiliated to the Shiromani Khalsa Diwan which in turn
was affiliated to the Chief Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar.
A social and religious organization to start with, the Shiromani
Khalsa Diwan also took up the cause of safeguarding the political
interests of the Sikhs, especially after the Communal Award of 1932,
and pressed for weightage for the Sikh minority in the legislature.
It succeeded in securing for the Sikhs three seats in a house of
50. During the elections held early in 1937, the Diwan's candidates
carried all the three seats. In the legislature they collaborated
with the 9-member Hindu group to form a 12member Hindu-Sikh legislative
party. After the adoption of the Pakistan resolution by the AllIndia
Muslim League in 1940, the Shiromani Khalsa Diwan gave support to
the Shiromani Akali Dal's Azad Punjab scheme for the protection
of Sikh interests. Thereafter the Diwan became virtually an affiliated
unit of the Shiromarii Akali Dal. During the general elections of
1946, the Diwan's candidates for the three Sikh seats in the provincial
legislature contested as Akali Dal nominees. The Shiromani Khalsa
Diwan, North-West Frontier Province, ceased to exist after the partition
of 1947.
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