Pakistan army gets first Sikh officer
Agencies
Posted online: Sunday , October 28, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Sunday , October 28, 2007 at 03:57:42Print Email To Editor

Islamabad, October 28: One person stood out among the latest batch of smartly turned out cadets that graduated from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's first Sikh army officer Harcharan Singh.
Singh, who was conspicuous due to his green turban and beard, marched in step with his fellow cadets before the army's vice chief, Lt Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, during the passing out parade yesterday.

Once the official ceremony was over, the 21-year-old officer joined his relatives and friends from Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, in a spirited 'bhangra' dance to the beat of drums.

He also became emotional on meeting his parents after the parade.

"It is a matter of great privilege and an honour for me that today I am standing in front of you in the khaki uniform. I have been given a great responsibility," Singh told reporters at the academy at Abbottabad in the North West Frontier Province, about 120 km from Islamabad.

"With the passage of time, I will prove that we (Sikhs) are more loyal than our Muslim brothers. I thank the Pakistan army that I have been given this chance," said the cadet who first came to the limelight in 2005 when he became the first member of Pakistan's minority Sikh community to be recruited by the army.

Born in 1986 in Nankana Sahib, Singh was part of the Pakistan Military Academy's 116th Long Course.