Rajya Sabha discusses issue of forcible conversion

The issue of forcible conversion of four Buddhist families in Ladakh region and fishing by police personnel in a sacred Buddhist lake was raised in RS.

New Delhi: The issue of forcible conversion of four Buddhist families in Ladakh region and fishing by police personnel in a sacred Buddhist lake near the Indo-China border in the region was raised in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Tarun Vijay (BJP) suspected that it is a conspiracy hatched by anti-national elements along the India-China border in Ladakh region and sought government`s intervention in resolving it. The BJP member said 22 members of four Buddhist families living near the Chinese border in the Zanskar area of Ladakh have been forcibly converted on November 28 and beaten up after they objected to fishing in their sacred lake by police personnel deployed there. "Even the Chinese government does not allow fishing in Mansarovar Lake while respecting religious sentiments. This is a holy lake in Kashmir and the religious sentiments should be respected," he said. He said 10 members of Zanskar Buddhist Association running a small monastery in Ladakh have been camping in Delhi for the past many days and no one is meeting them. He alleged that a police battalion deployed in the Ladakh region has been doing fishing in the area which has been objected to by the locals. After this, the locals including women were beaten up and forcibly converted, he alleged. Many BJP members supported Vijay and demanded that the government responds as the matter was serious. "It is a very serious matter. It is a matter of human rights and forced conversion," said Balbir Punj, while Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded that the government must respond. Responding to their concerns, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said, "It falls in the domain of the state government. We will convey it to them." PTI