Sikhs irked with ‘offensive’ photoshoot at Kartarpur Gurdwara

Lahore: A Pakistani model is under criticism for compromising the sanctity of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara, as she did a photo shoot there without covering her head.  

According to details, the woman is a social media influencer who sent her pictures to an online clothing brand 'Mannat Clothing'.   

Soon after the pictures went viral, the brand that posted the photoshoot fallen prey for controversy.

Several Sikhs have expressed outrage against the brand for shooting a campaign at the gurdwara and ignoring the Sikh code of conduct.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the chairman of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, turned to his official twitter handle and called out the brand and the models for being insensitive towards Sikhs.  

Modelling at Sri Kartarpur Sahib is Desecration. Pak Court issued Arrest Warrant of star who did dance video at Mosque; same must be done against this woman frm Lahore as example of treating all religion at par

Otherwise, any talk of respect for Sikhism is hollow @GovtofPakistan https://t.co/0OsPJyg3a9 pic.twitter.com/T2CigYRsxR

— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) November 29, 2021

Modelling bareheaded for ladies' attire, in the premises of Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib at #KartarpurSahib in Pakistan, by a Lahorite woman, has several hurt the religious sentiments of Sikhs. Further the pictures were uploaded on social media.@ImranKhanPTI @MORAisbOfficial pic.twitter.com/i5RX01kWGo

— Ravinder Singh Robin ਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ رویندرسنگھ روبن (@rsrobin1) November 29, 2021

For the unversed, keeping the head covered represents that God is supreme and is more powerful and respectable than humans. Hence, heads need to be covered all the time in order to pay the respect. 

Thus, the most main reason for covering the heads in Gurudwara is respect—observed by not only females but also males.

In the pictures showed a Pakistani model posing 'bare-headed' with her back turned to the Gurudwara, for an advertisement for 'Mannat'; a women's clothing brand. 

This sparked major outrage as netizens accused the model and the brand for hurting religious sentiments of the Sikhs.

In the meantime, the clothing brand defended itself— stating that the shoot is not part of any of its campaigns. 

“These pictures were provided to us by a third party (blogger) in which they wore our dress,” statement read.

The statement further added, “However, we accept our mistake that we should not post this content and we apologize to every person”.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by MANNAT (@mannat_clothing)

The apology came after Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and other members of the PTI condemned the shooting at Kartarpur shrine.

The Designer and the model must apologise to Sikh Community #KartarPurSahib is a religious symbol and not a Film set….. https://t.co/JTkOyveXvn

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 29, 2021

Good job.

I read their explanation, that they received these pictures videos from a third party. Absurd logic. Were you blind when you were using it on your official accounts ? https://t.co/AiRVPKfn6e

— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) November 29, 2021