Persecution of minorities in Pak continues, proves CAA is right and timely: Meenakshi Lekhi

A day after the stone-pelting by a mob at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Saturday said that Pakistan has now proved that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is right and timely as persecution of minorities continue to take place in the neighbouring country.

"Nankana Sahib is of huge symbolic importance because it is the religious shrine of Baba Nanak and is relevant across the globe to all Sikhs. It is the holiest shrine for Sikhism. Baba Nanak was born there. They have even threatened to change the name of Nankana Sahib to Ghulam-e-Mustafa," Lekhi told media persons here.

"It is not conducive to the ethos of multi-culturism, multi-religious societies and secular societies and the human rights that exist in any country. There have been thousands of evidence where young girls have been picked up, forcibly converted and married off to Muslim boys while the police, government and other agencies are part and parcel of the process," she said.

Lekhi said that courts in Pakistan have supported the perpetrators.

"This not only justifies the necessity of an Act like CAA, but also stresses the need for its immediate implementation. Pakistan now proves that CAA is right and it is timely," Lekhi said.

"The Pakistani government and society must know that Pakistani Sikhs have been the off-springs of that soil and continue to have faith and duty towards that soil and thus, did not migrate and chose to remain there," she further said.

Lekhi also said that the BJP asked the Pakistani government to take immediate action against the culprits as well as protect the property and dignity of the Sikh community along with other minority communities in Pakistan.

"There have been consistent acts of violence not only on people, but on religious places and on minorities. Constant human rights violations on minorities has also happened for decades. Minorities in Pakistan have been subjected to threats for civil conversion, rapes and violence," she outlined.

Lekhi's comments came after an angry group of local residents pelted stones at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan last evening.

The group was led by the family of a boy who abducted a Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, the daughter of Gurdwara's panthi.

Gurdwara Nankana Sahib was built at the place where Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev was born.