Ex-legislator of Imran Khan's party's seeks asylum in India, says no minority rights in Pak

A former legislator from Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has sought asylum in India, saying that minorities were deprived of their basic rights in the neighbouring nation.

Baldev Kumar (43) also said the terrorism was getting support in Pakistan.

Kumar along with his wife and two children came to India last month and is presently staying at Khanna in Punjab's Ludhiana district.

"I have come here to seek asylum and will request (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi Sahib to help us," Kumar told reporters in Khanna on Tuesday.

Asked why did he leave his country and come to India, Kumar said, "The whole world is watching what is the situation in Pakistan now. We were expecting from (Pakistan PM Imran) Khan Sahib that when he came (to power), the fate of Pakistan will change, he said.

But, Imran Khan has failed to do so, he added.

Khan Sahib was talking about new Pakistan. But the old Pakistan was better than the new Pakistan, he said in response to a question.

"You are watching the situation (in Pakistan) and I am also watching the same. That day our Sikh girl was kidnapped. Such things should not take place," said Kumar.

In Pakistan's Punjab province, a teenage Sikh girl, the daughter of a Gurdwara granthi (priest) there, was abducted and converted to Islam at gunpoint and was married to a Muslim man, her family had alleged.

A video of the girl's family had gone viral on social media in which one of her family members had alleged that a group of men attacked their house and she was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam.

He said, "Had minorities been getting their rights in Pakistan, such situation would not have arisen."