Islamabad, Mar 23 (IANS): The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the provincial statistics department to include the Sikh community in the national census form prepared for the ongoing headcount.

The PHC was hearing a case filed by the Sikh community, which requested that the Sikh minority should be included in the form, similar to other sections present of the religious minorities, reported Geo TV.

The court directed that the implementation of the ruling should be carried out in the second phase of the population census.

On Tuesday, a Sikh community leader filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to include Sikhism in the religion column in the census form.

Talking to Geo News, Sikh community leader Advocate Heera Singh Khalsa said he filed the case on the basis of article 25-1 that said: "All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law."

Following this, the SHC sent notices to the Chief Census Commissioner and Provincial Census Commissioner to submit their response in the matter.