India summons senior Pakistan High Commission diplomat over abduction of Sikh girl in Pakistan

Hours after reports emerged that a Sikh girl was abducted from Panja Sahib region of Punjab in Pakistan, India on Monday formally raised the matter. India summoned senior Pakistani diplomat of the Pakistan High Commission and issued a demarche.

In yet another case of atrocity on Sikhs in Pakistan, a 17-year-old girl named Bulbul Kaur, who is the daughter of Granthi of Gurdwara Panja Sahib Preetam Singh, was abducted 15 days ago by two Muslim men in Panja Sahib. There is no news of Bulbul since then and her family is worried thinking that she may also be forced like Jagjit Kaur to convert into Islam and get married to a Muslim man.

"We are meeting JP Singh, Joint Secretary, Foreign Affairs, Incharge Pakistan Desk to urge them to raise this issue and seek justice," said Bulbul's family. In a video sent to Bulbul's father, she has expressed fear of being killed if she came back to her parents.

His father Pritam Singh has also filed a complaint to the deputy commissioner of Attock in Pakistan in connection with this matter. As per Bulbul's father, she had gone to dump garbage in the street at 10 pm on August 31 and had not returned to home since then. He added when the family couldn’t find her, they lodged a police complaint and the police zeroed in on one Imran Masih, who was allowed to go after initial investigations. According to Bulbul's father, she called him on September 15 and said she was in a ‘madrassa’.

Members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Monday gathered near the Pakistan High Commission to protest the alleged abduction of a Sikh girl in the neighbouring country, as reported by news agency PTI. DSGMC chairman Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that the daughter of the head Granthi of Gurdwara Panja Sahib was abducted recently.

The Delhi Police said around 40 to 50 people staged a protest near the Chanakyapuri police station. "The protesters were requested to vacate the area following which they left. No one was either detained or arrested," a senior police officer said.

Sirsa said on September 20, a delegation of DSGMC had met an official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), demanding that the central government raise the issue of the alleged abduction of Sikh girls in Pakistan.