MELBOURNE – Sikh Youth Australia & Khalsa Education Society organised a seminar cum photo-exhibition on the Sikh Legacy in Pakistan to coincide with the sequel book launch of ‘The Quest Continues – LOST HERITAGE The Sikh legacy in Pakistan‘. The event took place on the 4th November and was a special tribute to mark the Parkash purab celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev ji.
The event was a great success, with the book being officially launched by Hon. MP Ros Spence (State Member of Yuroke), Cr. Geoff Porter (Mayor, Hume Council), Cr. Drew jessop and Ayesha bux (Investment Consulor Pakistan in Australia). The book was tremendously well received by all those in attendance, with over 120 supporters from the Indian and Pakistani communities in Melbourne. Also in attendance were representatives from the Australian Indian Historical Society (AIHS), Whittlesea Interfaith Network (WIN), Brothers & Sisters Foundation, Oorja Foundation and representatives of the Sikh Community.
The journey of this book began when Singapore based Amardeep Singh put his corporate life on hold after serving 25 years to fulfil his dream of seeing, touching and collecting the soil of his Father’s home in Muzaffarabad. With a camera in hand and the warmth and support of the people of Pakistan that guided him on his journey, he returned without a single grain of soil, but instead with documented and photographic findings that would soon turn into a book on the Sikh Empire for the world to share.
After having elevated the research to a global platform, the passage thereafter, stirred Amardeep towards an obsessive quest to further research the tangible and intangible footprints of the Sikh legacy in Pakistan. In Jan 2017, he embarked on a second research trip which took him to 90 additional cities and villages across Sindh, Balochistan, Pakistan Administered Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Punjab. The second exploration, is documented in a sequel entitled, ‘THE QUEST CONTINUES: LOST HERITAGE The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan‘ which will be released in October 2017. The research in the sequel provides a continued strong impetus to those curious about their roots or interested in the rich historical era. The text of the second narrative too is interspersed with photographs of the remnants of the legacy that continues to bear mute witness to the heart-wrenching partition of the subcontinent. In addition, it brings focus to the life and practices of forgotten communities which continue to thrive and evolve across Pakistan.
Over a short period of 2.5 years, Amardeep has researched the remnants of the Sikh legacy at 126 cities and villages in Pakistan and published them in two volumes. Amardeep has approached the subject holistically to cover religious places, arts, architecture, forts, living cultural aspects, etc. It is his humane approach to the subject that resonates with members of all communities.
His aim through the study of the abandoned legacy of one community is to motivate all communities to become aware of their past and through it, learn to live in harmony for mutual progress.