Pakistan’s first female Sikh journalist from Peshawar nominated for UK award

Manmeet Kaur, the first female journalist from proud Sikh community of Pakistan, has been nominated for an award in United Kingdom.

Kaur, who hails from Peshawar said while talking to Tribal News Network (TNN) that ‘The Sikh Group’ in UK has nominated her for an award.

She has been nominated for highlighting problems of Sikh community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

Around 100 people from all over the globe have been nominated in the first phase and some of them will be shortlisted for the award.

‘The Sikh Group’ is a global organisation which awards people belonging to the Sikh religion from different parts of the world.

Kaur said that she has worked for promotion of inter-faith harmony and rights of minorities in Pakistan, adding to this, she said Indian singers Ammy Virk and Gaurav Randhawa have also been nominated along with her for the award.

Previously, the institution has also awarded former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his achievements.

Manmeet Kaur said her nomination for the award will encourage other women to work hard in their respective fields and serve humanity.

Further she said that she is representing Pakistan in UK and she wants the world to know that women in Pakistan are no more by any means lag in any field.

Kaur who started her career in 2018 shared her journey by citing the pages from her memory, she remembered the time when her family and community members were not happy as girls from her community don’t go outside their homes for work. She said the family members were worried about her and told her how she will compete with men in a city full of challenges for women.

However, when she started reporting on problems of her community members, her people became happy with her work and appreciated her.

The 25-year-old is happily married and is a mother to a one-year-old child. She obtained her Master’s degree in social work from the University of Peshawar.

She said literacy rate among girls from Sikh community is low and girls don’t have the tendency of doing jobs that is why she was feeling a bit nervous that people may not accept her in the field.

However, she said when she started working she received encouraging response from family and community.

She is now working with great self-belief and dedication and her work is getting the recognition she deserves.

Nomination for such a coveted award is an achievement in itself of Kaur as she stated.