Religion

Within two days, Pakistan suspends official who allegedly asked Sikhs to convert

Acting instantly on the complaint filed by a Sikh group against an official alleged to have forced for conversion, authorities in Pakistan have taken action and suspended the official.

According to SikhSiyasat a delegation of Sikhs represented by Gurpal Singh, and district councilor Farid Singh, submitted a written complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, after which on the directions of Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa the officer was suspended immediately, and an enquiry was launched.

The accused official shall remain suspended until the enquiry comes out with results.

In India, Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to take up the issue of alleged “forced conversions” of Sikhs to Islam in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, little realising that Islamabad had already acted on the matter and suspended the official.

Earlier, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has said, “We are duty-bound to protect the identity of Sikhs, wherever they may be living,” he said in a statement.

“Religious freedom is the right of every human being and should be upheld by all countries in the larger interest of humanity,” he said, adding that Swaraj’s intervention in the matter would help protect this basic right of the substantial Sikh community settled in Pakistan.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said on Tuesday, “India will take up at the highest level in the Pakistan government reports of Sikhs being forced to convert to Islam by a government official in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P)”

It is pertinent to note that such strong official statements or condemnations from the ministries were lacking on the Indian side, after a Mulism man was burnt to death in a hate crime in Rajasthan last week, and reports of Muslims being denied property rights have surfaced in Uttar Pradesh.

 

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