The persecution of religious minorities, and especially non-Muslim girls, in Muslim-majority Pakistan continues unabated. This time it is a Sikh granthi’s daughter who has been targeted in Nankana Sahib, the holiest of cities for Sikhs as it is the birth place of the founder of the Sikh panth, Guru Nanak.

The girl, Jagjit Kaur, was abducted at gunpoint from her home in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan on the night of August 27. A few days later, a ‘nikah’ video emerged in which the clearly subdued girl is seen sitting besides a Muslim man, Mohammad Ehsaan, while a maulvi makes them both recite Quranic verses & then makes the girl declared that she is 19 and is marrying Ehsaan of her own free will.

Not only the Hindu girls are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan but SIKH Girls also. A daughter of a Granthi of #GurdwaraTambuSahib in #Nankana Sahib was missing for past 3 days has surfaced on Thursday after marrying a Muslim man & embrassing Islam . @MEAIndia @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/Z545P9skLa

— Ravinder Singh Robin ਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ راویندرسنگھ روبن (@rsrobin1) August 29, 2019

The girl’s father Bhagwan Singh is a granthi at Gurdwara Tambu Sahib. Her brother Manmohan Singh lodged a complaint on August 28 with Nankana Sahib police saying that she is 16 years of age and accused Ehsaan and six others, including a woman Rukiyya, under Section 365 B (kidnapping, abducting or inducing women for marriage) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Sawinder Singh, younger brother of the girl, told Times of India over phone that his sister, who was already betrothed to a Sikh boy, was kidnapped when she had gone to stay with their elder sister.

Sawinder also alleged that neither the police nor the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) –  a body responsible for the maintenance of properties abandoned by people who left for Bharat during partition – officials paid any heed to their complaint. On the contrary, authorities are sending messages to the family to not ‘rake up’ the issue in view of the upcoming 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev and opening of Kartarpur corridor with Bharat.

Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh was moved to intervene on behalf of the hapless Sikh family –

Shocking incident of a Sikh girl being kidnapped & forced to convert to Islam in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan. Call upon @ImranKhanPTI to take firm and immediate action against the perpetrators. Request @DrSJaishankar to strongly take up the issue with his counterpart at the earliest. pic.twitter.com/hpHvD9kkEJ

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 30, 2019

Since its inception HinduPost has been covering the genocidal approach of Pakistan towards it religious minorities. While globally, it is the persecution of Christian, Ahmadi & Shia minorities and select cases like Asia Bibi blasphemy case that have got most attention, the plight of Pakistani Hindus & Sikhs is far worse.

Hindus are being targeted primarily in the ‘liberal’ province of Sindh – it is estimated that 25 Hindu girls are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, raped & married in that one province alone each month. Around 5000 Hindus migrate each year to Bharat to escape the persecution, and many cave in to the constant intimidation and institutionalized discrimination to finally convert to Islam. And nothing has changed even after the advent of Lutyens’ darling Imran Khan as PM of Pakistan.

Islamists have such a choke-hold on Pakistani society and institutions that a law passed in 2016 to outlaw forcible conversions in Sindh met with fierce resistance from groups like Hafeez Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa, leading to the Sindh governor declining to sign the bill into law.

At least 10 prominent Sikhs have been murdered in “targeted killings” since 2014 in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces where most Pakistani Sikhs reside. This resulted in a staggering 60% of Peshawar’s 30,000 Sikhs leaving for other parts of Pakistan or migrating to Bharat after 2014.

Hindus & Sikhs are also battling with the Pakistan government for ownership of hundreds of temples and gurdawaras. Many lands belonging to Hindu & Sikh temples and crematoriums have been encroached or disposed off by the ETBP and land mafia. Just recently, a 4 centuries old Guru Nanak palace was partially demolished and vandalized in Pakistan’s Narowal.

Even though awareness on this dire human rights issue is slowly rising, especially after the Rinkle Kumari case of 2012, it is still telling that 1 billion Hindus across the world have still not managed to make the world hear about the pain of their sisters & brothers in countries like Pakistan & Bangladesh.

It is also an extreme irony that some members of the Sikh diaspora in countries like Canada, UK etc are so brainwashed by Khalistani rhetoric that they remain blind to the plight of Pakistani Sikhs and instead spew venom on Bharat, a country where Sikhs are living peacefully & prospering despite the recent spate of Khalistani-funded killings of Hindu leaders.

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