LAHORE: Punjab Assembly made history by witnessing oath-taking ceremony of its first Sikh minister on Wednesday. Ramesh Singh Arora, the PMLN legislator who returned to the provincial assembly for the third term in 2024, became the first provincial minister of post-partition Punjab to take oath as a member of Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet.

Hailing from the district of Narowal, Ramesh Singh Arora has been allotted the portfolio of minorities. Another member representing the minority community of Punjab, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, has also been inducted into the Punjab cabinet and has been assigned the portfolio of human rights. Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora was also the first-ever Sikh MPA of Punjab, taking oath as an MPA in 2013.

Since 1970, various political parties or alliances, such as the PPP, IJI, PMLN, PMLQ, and PTI, have formed governments. However, the PMLN stands out as the only party to bring the first Sikh MPA to the house and include him in the cabinet. The PTI had also introduced a Sikh MPA to the Punjab Assembly in the form of Mahendra Pal Singh, but he could not return to the PA in 2024 as the party was unable to secure its quota of reserved seats.