Muslims are not safe in Pak, how could Sikhs feel safe, says Pakistani politician

Baldev Kumar, a former MLA, of the ruling party in Pakistan, on Tuesday slammed his country (Pakistan) for its treatment of minorities and its poor track record of not embracing human rights.

"When even Muslims are not secure in Pakistan, how would Sikhs like me be secure there," he said while talking to reporters there.

Kumar is a former MLA of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan-led PTI and is also seeking asylum in India citing atrocities on minorities in Pakistan.

Kumar said only those people who are playing into the hands of Pakistani agencies work in Gurudwaras there.

Recalling an incident, Kumar said, "For example, the Jatha which came from India during Baisakhi, they were not provided rooms. They were made to sit outside. I along with 12 Sardars whom I don't want to mention due to fear of reprisal against them in Pakistan, had to fight with caretakers to provide rooms for them."

He also slammed Imran Khan who never fails to talk about the condition of minorities in India, "overlooking the plight of minorities in his own country."

"Khan Sahab is talking of Naya Pakistan. I say Purana Pakistan was much better than Naya Pakistan," Kumar said.

"Everything is being done by Pak Army. There is nothing with Imran Khan. Khan had promised that he won't take any former Minister, MPA, MP. Now, all the thieves are in his party," he said here.

Asserting that several families from Pakistan want to migrate to India, the Pakistani leader said he expects support from Narendra Modi government and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

"I am happy with the Modi government. They are working like "Babbar Sher." CM is also working good. I got a call from the PA of Punjab CM. They asked to let them know whatever I need," he said.

Rejecting Pakistan's criticism of human rights violation in Kashmir, he said, "No choppers were ever used in Kashmir. The situation in Swat became so bad that we had to shift from there."

A former PTI MLA from Barikot in Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK) assembly, Baldev is in India along with his family to seek political asylum.

In 2016, a sitting MLA from his constituency was assassinated. Baldev was charged with a false murder case and acquitted in 2018, adding to a number of false cases that minority members are framed in by cash-strapped Islamabad.

In Pakistan, incidents, where Hindu, Sikh and Christian girls are forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men, are reported regularly.

The recent incident of abduction, forcible marriage and religious conversion of a Sikh girl of Nankana Sahib is a telling example.