Pakistan's Sikh refugees

Children of Sikh families displaced by fighting swim in the waters outside the Gurdwara Panja Sahib, a holy site revered by Sikhs, at Hasan Abdal in Pakistan's Punjab province Photograph: Declan Walsh

Sikhs beside the waters of the Gurdwara Panja Sahib. An estimated 3,000 families have taken refuge around the holy site Photograph: Declan Walsh

Some have also come from Orakzai tribal agency, in the federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan Photograph: Declan Walsh

A Sikh refugee touches a stone said to contain the imprint of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, at the holy site Photograph: Declan Walsh

Three Pakistani Sikhs from Orakzai tribal agency in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas. They have taken refuge at the Gurdwara Panja Sahib after the Taliban in Orakzai forced them to pay jiziya, a centuries-old Islamic tax on non-Muslims. Darsha Singh, right, said they had to pay 6.5 million rupees (£50,000) after the Taliban kidnapped one of their people Photograph: Declan Walsh

Fighting that forced the Sikhs to flee was concentrated on Pakistan's Swat and Buner districts, where sharia law was briefly declared under what was meant to be a peace deal between the government and Taliban Photograph: Declan Walsh

Pakistani Sikhs at the Gurdwara Panja Sahib. The situation in Swat escalated to the point that the Pakistani government sent in its troops Photograph: Declan Walsh

A makeshift school set up in the Gurdwara Panja Sahib Photograph: Declan Walsh

The community is well organised, with adequate toilet facilities compared with the squalid conditions often endured by refugees Photograph: Declan Walsh

A Sikh man rests in the sanctuary Photograph: Declan Walsh