SHIROMAṆĪ KHĀLSĀ DĪWĀN, NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE, a socio-political organization of the Sikhs of the frontier province (now in Pakistan), was founded in the 1920's by Sardār Jagat Siṅgh Nārag of Peshāwar, a businessman, later a member of the provincial legislative assembly. The Sikh population of the North-West Frontier Province was according to the 1941 Census 62,411, about one half of which were Sahajdhārī Sikhs. They were mainly businessmen and professionals, but a fair number also represented farmers concentrated chiefly in Hazārā district. Sikhism had been introduced in the region in the days of the early Gurūs. A number of Sikh residents were the descendants of Punjabi soldiers who had settled down here after the annexation of Peshāwar by Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh in 1834. Every town had at least, one gurdwārā. Siṅgh Sabhās had been established in larger towns such as Harīpur (1886), Kohāṭ (1886-87), Lorālāī (1903) and Peshāwar (1905). All the Siṅgh Sabhās in the province came to be affiliated to the Shiromaṇī Khālsā Dīwān which in turn was affiliated to the Chief Khālsā Dīwān, Amritsar.

        A social and religious organization to start with, the Shiromaṇī Khālsā Dīwān also took up the cause of safeguarding the political interests of the Sikhs, especially after the Communal Award of 1932, and pressed for weightage for the Sikh minority in the legislature. It succeeded in securing for the Sikhs three seats in a house of 50. During the elections held early in 1937, the Dīwān's candidates carried all the three seats. In the legislature they collaborated with the 9-member Hindu group to form a 12-member Hindu-Sikh legislative party. After the adoption of the Pakistan resolution by the All-India Muslim League in 1940, the Shiromaṇī Khālsā Dīwān gave support to the Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal's Āzād Punjab scheme for the protection of Sikh interests. Thereafter the Dīwān became virtually an affiliated unit of the Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal. During the general elections of 1946, the Dīwān's candidates for the three Sikh seats in the provincial legislature contested as Akālī Dal nominees. The Shiromaṇī Khālsā Dīwān, North-West Frontier Province, ceased to exist after the partition of 1947.

Ajīt Siṅgh Sarhadī