Pakistan news channel hires Harmeet Singh as country's first Sikh anchor

Karachi: In a first, a Sikh man has been hired as an anchor by a news channel in Pakistan. Harmeet Singh, who is a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chakesar city, has joined the Public News channel. The official handle of the media house posted a video of Singh on twitter and captioned, “Pakistan’s 1st Sikh News Anchor Harmeet Singh only on #PublicNews.”

Recently, Manmeet Kaur had become the first female Sikh reporter in Pakistan. [caption id=“attachment_4639651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Pakistan’s first Sikh anchor Harmeet Singh. Twitter @ShirazHassan[/caption] “I was always interested in the thriving media industry in Pakistan,” Singh said. “I didn’t use any religion card to gain access in the media industry. I worked hard and did a lot of work before I got any recognition,” he added. Media veteran Yousaf Baig Mirza, who heads the Public News channel, said Singh was chosen as newscaster due to his flamboyant looks and voice pitch. Singh completed his masters in journalism from Federal Urdu University Karachi. He started his media career as a reporter. Though the immediate family of Singh is based in Pakistan, his extended family members keep on visiting from India.