Punjab CM urges Imran Khan to ensure safety of Pak Sikh leader

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure the safety of a Sikh leader, who received threats and tortured by unidentified people in Pakistan.

Radesh Singh Tony, who contested the 2018 Pakistan general elections from Peshawar's PK-75 constituency as an independent candidate, recently said that he was "getting assassination threats from Pakistani hardliners".

"Urge @ImranKhanPTI to ensure safety of @aoepoeRadesh. I understand he's feeling unsafe in Pakistan, which has seen many Sikhs being persecuted in recent months. The @pid_gov should take immediate steps to protect him & others like him & facilitate their safe passage if needed," Singh said in a tweet.

Tony had tweeted a video of himself and wrote, "I am getting assassination threats from Pak hardliners.The life of my family is in danger Living in Pakistan is very dangerous for my family please please extend me help/refuge any further delay would cause serious troubles for my family."

In the video, the Sikh leader narrated his plight and sought the help of Akali Dal leader Manjiinder Singh Sirsa.

"The world knows what has happened to me. I request Manjinder Singh Sirsa to help my family who are facing trouble. I urge you to seek UN's help to take me out from this place so that I can escape from such threats," Tony said.

He stated that he should be taken to a place which is safe for him like Europe, Canada or the United States.

Tony also sought the support of the Sikh community from across the world and stand with him in the hour of crisis.

As per a report from Pakistani daily The Dawn, Tony was a "prominent member of the local Sikh community and the president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Pakistan Minorities Alliance".

This is not the first time that incidents like this have come to fore. Last year, a former MLA from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Baldev Kumar, had sought asylum in India along with his family following the atrocities faced in Pakistan.

Despite this, Islamabad continues to discriminate against its religious minorities, which is manifested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes and forced conversion to Islam.