Sikh girl's forced conversion to Islam: Amarinder seeks immediate intervention of Indian, Pak govts

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday expressed shock over reports of a Sikh girl being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan and sought immediate intervention of Indian and Pakistani governments in the matter.

Singh demanded Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to take stern action against those responsible for it and said they should not be allowed to get way. He also urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to raise the issue with his counterpart in Islamabad.

Religion is a personal matter and forcible conversion of this kind has no place in any society, he said in a statement.

Union minister and Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal described the incident as a shameful act and said the Sikh community will go all out and tell the world what Pakistan is doing to minorities. "This issue will be raised and action will be taken," the Bathinda MP said.

The chief minister posted a video on Twitter and said, "Shocking incident of a Sikh girl being kidnapped & forced to convert to Islam in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan."
Asked what the Centre plans to do in the matter, she said, "Our government has always taken this up very strongly whenever there has been cases involving Hindu girls. We are going to take this up with the external affairs minister and we are going to strongly lodge our protest on what is being done by Pakistan."