SAD protests abduction of Gurdwara Panja Sahib’s head Granthi’s daughter

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 21

In order to protest the prevalent miscreant forced religious conversion of young Sikh girls to Islam in Pakistan, Delhi’s Shiromani Akali Dal unit on Monday protested against the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

The recent such case of Gurdwara Panja Sahib’s head Granthi’s daughter’s abduction has irked the Sikhs, who have demanded an immediate probe into the matter.

The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) has intervened in the alleged abduction and forcible conversion of the religion of a young Sikh girl.

Women, including minor girls from religious minority communities continue to face religious violence and persecution in Pakistan. 

USCIRF Annual Report 2020 notes that in Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities, young women, often underage, continue to be kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam, and that 1,000 women are forcibly converted to Islam each year.

The report further says that local police are often accused of complicity in these cases by failing to investigate them properly.

In the recent past, minor girls belonging to families of Sikh Granthis have been reportedly abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. This includes the abduction and forced conversion of Jagjit Kaur, daughter of a granthi in Nankana Sahib last year, and more recently, the abduction of Mulbaul Kaur, daughter of a granthi of Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib.

Taking cognisance of the incident, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal has sought the intervention of Union External Affairs Ministry to bring justice to the girl and her family.

Nonetheless, the PSGPC officials along with the girl’s family members met Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri in the presence of Punjab’s Minister for Minority Affairs Ijaz Alam Augustine and chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Dr Aamir Ahmad and apprised them of the disappearance of the girl.

Meanwhile, a case was registered against an “unknown abductor” immediately after the girl’s father had filed a complaint.

It was the girl’s father Pritam Singh, a granthi in Gurdwara Panja Sahib, who revealed the incident on social media that her daughter was missing for the past ten days. In his message, he had feared the forcible conversion of her religion.

At the moment, it would be premature to confirm that the girl has converted to another religion. This can only be confirmed once she comes out to record her statement.

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