Pakistan: Sikh Community Erupts In Protest Against Abduction, Forceful Conversion And Marriage Of 25 Year Old Woman To Muslim Man

The Sikh community in the Buner district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organised a massive protest on Sunday (Aug 21) against the abduction, forceful conversion and marriage of a 25-year old woman to a Muslim man.

Alleging religious discrimination and oppression, hundreds of Sikhs blocked the road and demanded justice.

According to her close family member, Dina Kumari Kaur, who works as a teacher in a government school, went to duty on Saturday but did not return home.

The lady’s family members, along with other community members, gathered in front of Pir Baba police station on Saturday (Aug 21) and demanded that police register a first information report (FIR) over the missing woman, but the police refused to do so.

Angered over the refusal to register a complaint, the family members launched a protest outside the police station.

The police reportedly informed the family members that she married her neighbour, a Muslim man, in court.

Many Sikh families are settled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and they are mostly engaged in running small grocery/spices/hakeemi (traditional medicines) shops. They have been facing persecution and their girls are regularly being kidnapped, raped and married to their abductors.

According to estimates by Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC), there are just 15,000-20,000 Sikhs estimated to be left in Pakistan of which some 500 Sikh households are in Peshawar.

In May 2022, two Sikh men were shot dead in Peshawar city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The deceased men, Ranjit Singh and Kuljeet Singh, were both shopkeepers. They were sitting at their shops at Batta Tal Chowk in Sarband area when two unidentified men arrived on a motorbike and opened fire.

In September 2021, a Sikh shopkeeper, Satnam Singh, was shot dead at his dawakhana (traditional medicine shop) in Peshawar. The Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed responsibility for the killing.