Sikh woman on Pak pilgrimage converts to Islam, marries Lahore man: Reports

A Sikh woman pilgrim from Punjab's Hoshiarpur district has reportedly converted to Islam and married a Lahore-based Pakistan national, reports reaching her family in Punjab have indicated.

Kiran Bala, daughter of Manohar Lal, wrote to the Pakistan Foreign Office that her visa should be extended as she married one Mohammad Azam, a resident of Lahore, during a ceremony held at Jamia Naeemia seminary in Lahore on April 16, The Express Tribune reported.

She went to Pakistan on her Indian passport with Pakistan visa valid till April 21.

Her old father-in-law, Tarsem Singh, alleged on Thursday that his daughter-in-law could have fallen into the hands of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and may have been forced to convert and remarry there.

Kiran's father-in-law, Tarsem Singh spoke to ANI and said, "My daughter-in-law called and said that she has converted to Islam and got re-married in Pakistan. I want to request the Prime Minister, CM of Punjab to take her out of this situation. I suspect she might have fallen into the hands of ISI."

As per Pakistani media reports, Kiran embraced Islam from Darul-Aloom Jamia Naeemia in Lahore on April 16 and later performed 'nikah' (marriage) with Muhammed Azam, a resident of Hanjarwal Multan Road in Lahore.

According to ANI, she also changed her name to Amna Bibi which she used to sign the letter addressed to the foreign ministry, the report said.

"Now in the given circumstances, the undersigned could not return back to India and the undersigned have received life threats of assassination, therefore, the undersigned intends to extend her visa," she wrote in the letter, published by the local media.

However, what is curious is that in her application for extension of the Pakistan visa, her name is typed as Amna Bibi while the signature has been done as Amina, IANS reported.

She has applied for an extension of visa, citing "threats of assassination" to her life in India, before Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, a report in Daily Times said.

The News also posted pictures of the woman and her visa extension application on its website.

Around 1,700 Indian pilgrims had gone to Pakistan to visit Sikh shrines, including Panja Sahib Gurdwara near Lahore and Nankana Sahib -- the birth place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, on the occasion of Baisakhi on April 13.

Kiran Bala, 31, a widow, is the mother of three. She was living with her in-laws at their village house in Garhshankar sub-division of Punjab, around 90 km from Chandigarh.

The children are with their aged grandparents. Their father had passed away in 2013.

"I had dropped my daughter-in-law with SGPC officials in Amritsar on April 10 for the pilgrimage in Pakistan. The 'jatha' is expected to return on April 21.

"I cannot believe what has happened. No one has contacted us officially from the SGPC and the foreign ministry. I want my daughter-in-law to be returned safely," Tarsem Singh, a Sikh religious preacher in his village, told the media.

Tarsem Singh alleged that Kiran Bala could be in touch with the Pakistani man (whom she has reportedly married) through social media.

He alleged that she was using social media frequently on her mobile phone in the past one month.

The visit of the Indian pilgrims to Pakistan has been mired in controversies in the past one week with Pakistani agencies and officials denying permission to Indian embassy officials there from meeting the visiting delegation members.

Posters of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland, have also been put up at the places where the Indian delegation is visiting.