The Pakistani Sikh girl who was allegedly kidnapped, converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man, refused to go home to her parents, in spite of pleas by the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar, citing threats to her life.
The governor met the girl at a shelter home in Lahore where she was sent on Friday, 30 August, after she told a court that she married Muhammad Hassan, the Muslim man, of her own volition.
PAKISTAN ORDERS PROBE INTO INCIDENT
After India raised the issue of alleged forced conversion of a Sikh girl and asked for “immediate remedial action”, Pakistan has ordered a probe into the incident, according to the Hindustan Times.
This comes a day after the news hit social media that a 19-year-old Sikh girl was allegedly abducted and converted to Islam before being married to a Muslim man in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
In response to a media query regarding the incident, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the ministry has received a number of representations from various quarters of civil society in India, including Sikh religious bodies, at the “reports of the incident of abduction and forced conversion of a minor Sikh girl in Pakistan”.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
The girl's brother has said, “Our sister has not been returned to us till now. These reports are wrong, no arrests have been made yet. I appeal to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Army Chief and Punjab Governor to ensure justice to us," reported ANI.
Earlier, ANI had stated that the girl was returned to her parents and that Punjab's Nankana Sahib police arrested eight people, including Arsalan, a friend of the prime suspect Muhammad Hassan, who had married the Sikh girl.
An FIR was registered against six people in the case, Muhammad Jamil, Nankana City Police Investigation Officer, told PTI.
“Arsalan facilitated Hassan in getting him married to the Sikh girl,” he said, adding that Hassan is on pre-arrest bail and could not be arrested.
Jamil said that Hassan and the girl live in the same locality.
“They developed a love affair and the girl decided to elope with him to contract marriage,” he said.
Jamil said that the advocate of the girl, identified as Jagjit Kaur, in her statement before the court declared that she embraced Islam and married Hassan of her free will.
The police official said that the girl, through her lawyer Sheikh Sultan, rejected her family's allegations.
Sultan said that he has also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court against local police and her family on behalf of the girl.
WHAT CAN WE SEE IN THE VIDEO?
Meanwhile, a video of the girl at the wedding ceremony has also gone viral on social media.
In the video, the girl is seen sitting beside Hassan and saying that she was marrying him without any pressure.
The family of the girl, in a video message, have claimed that Kaur was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam and sought Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's help.
THE BIG PICTURE
Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, earlier on Friday, met the father of the girl, ANI reported.
In a related development, the Punjab government has constituted a high-level panel to negotiate with the 30-member committee formed by the Sikh community in connection with the case.
Prime Minister Khan had in March ordered a probe into reports of abduction, forced conversion and underage marriages of two teenage Hindu girls in Sindh province.
The two girls were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi.
WHAT ARE INDIAN POLITICIANS SAYING?
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday sought Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's intervention in the matter.
“Shocking incident of a Sikh girl being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan,” the Chief Minister tweeted, tagging a video.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)