ISLAMABAD — Dozens of baton-wielding Sikhs pushed past the front gate and entered the grounds of Pakistan's parliament Friday, protesting recent attacks on their houses of worship.
Sikhs staged a two-hour sit-in on parliament's lawns in Islamabad before dispersing after speaking with police officials and lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party, senior police officer Aftab Cheema said. They assured the Sikhs they'd receive full protection, Cheema said.
Cheema said investigators would look into how protesters made it past the gate.
Zafar Ali Shah, a lawmaker from the PML-N party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, told reporters that the Sikh leaders protested against several attacks on their places of worship in southern Sindh province.
"We assured them that the government will provide them full protection, and they peacefully dispersed," he said.
Darshan Singh, a lawmaker from the minority Sikh community, said the protesters apologized over entering the parliament's grounds.
Sikhs are a tiny minority in predominantly Muslim Pakistan. Most of them live in Sindh province and they never held such a protest in the past.
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