Dawn – Missing Sikh girl reunited with family in Attock

Amjad Iqbal

Taxila – Panjab – Pakistan, 23 September 2020. A 22-year-old Sikh girl, who recently went missing under mysterious circumstances from her home, was reunited with her family on Tuesday, proving that theories about her abduction as well as forced conversion were mere propaganda, police sources said.

The girl went missing in Attock district’s Hassan-abdal city, which is home to famous Sikh Gurdwara Panja Sahib, at around 10 pm on 31 August.

Her father, in his FIR lodged with the Hassan-abdal police station, said his daughter had gone to dump garbage in the street at 10pm on 31 August, but did not return home.

He said that when the family couldn’t find her, he lodged a complaint with the Hassan-­abdal police station which subsequently registered a case under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code for kidnapping, abduction or inducing a woman to marry, and launched a hunt for the missing girl.

During the investigation, the police zeroed in on one suspect who was released after initial questioning. The family expressed fears that she might have converted to Islam and married a Muslim man.

However, all such fears proved to be baseless when the girl was reunited with her family at the Attock district police office.

The young woman in her video statement raised Sikh religious slogans, along with her family, including father and mother. “Jo bolay so Nihal, Sat Sri Akal,” they chanted.

The Indian media had played up the issue and termed the incident “a case of forced conversion”.

The Indian media’s fake propaganda triggered demonstrations staged by some Sikh organisations such as Delhi’s Shiromani Akali Dal Unit and Delhi’s Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee outside the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi against the alleged kidnapping.

Moreover, according to media reports, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs also summoned an official of the Pakistan High Commission over the issue.

In his statement, the father, who runs a herbal shop in Hassan-abdal, thanked the government and Attock police for the safe and early recovery of his missing daughter.

He said he was happy that his daughter was safely reunited with her family with her religion intact.

Representatives of the Sikh community also lauded efforts of the police and support of the federal and provincial governments as well as the Evacuee Trust Property Board and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for making untiring efforts for the safe and early recovery of the girl.

Talking to Dawn, District Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said that police teams’ weeks-long efforts proved fruitful and the Sikh girl was safely handed over to her father and mother after fulfilling legal requirements as she recorded her statement in a local court under Section 166 on Tuesday.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1581140/missing-sikh-girl-reunited-with-family-in-attock

Dawn – Sikh girl goes missing from house in Hassanabdal

Amjad Iqbal

Taxila – Panjab – Pakistan, 20 September 2020. A young Sikh woman of Hassanabdal has allegedly run away with a Muslim man and may have married him after converting to Islam, sources said on Saturday.

The 22-year-old daughter of a Sikh man who runs a shop in Hassanabdal stepped out of her house on the pretext of taking the trash outside the other day, but never returned.

DSP Raja Fayyaz-ul-Hassan, the sub-divisional police officer, said a case had been registered by Hassanabdal police against an “unknown abductor” on the complaint of the girl’s father under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, for kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to marry, and launched a hunt for the missing girl.

The day after she went missing she reportedly sent a WhatsApp message to her father telling him that she had contracted a marriage of her own will and converted to Islam, said DSP Hassan.

He said several police teams were looking for the girl so that she could be produced before a court of law and her statement recorded.

Case registered against ‘unknown abductor’

When contacted, General Secretary of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Sardar Ameer Singh confirmed that the girl had gone missing from her father’s house located near the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal.

Mr Singh said that her father and uncle met federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri on Friday, in the presence of Punjab’s Minister for Minority Affairs Ijaz Alam Augustine and chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Dr Aamir Ahmad, and apprised him of disappearance of the girl.

He said the federal and provincial ministers had assured the girl’s father and uncle that she would be recovered soon.

In response to a question, Mr Singh said: “At the moment, it is premature to confirm that the girl has converted to another religion. This can only be confirmed once the girl is found and her statement is recorded.”

He said the entire Sikh community was supporting the aggrieved family.

In response to another question, Mr Singh said his organisation was in contact with the district police officer of Attock for the latest updates on the situation.

He termed some reports run by the Indian media on the matter “baseless and unwanted”.

He pointed out that as per the FIR she had left her house on her own and the whole nation could not be blamed for an individual’s act.

Sub-Inspector Tahir Iqbal, the spokesman for district police, said a case was registered against an “unknown abductor” immediately after the girl’s father had filed a complaint. So there was no delay in the registration of the case.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1580633/sikh-girl-goes-missing-from-house-in-hassanabdal