In the wake of forced conversion of two Sikh girls in Pakistan, India on Sunday expressed strong concern over the incidents and asked the neighbouring country to take remedial action to stop such cases.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Sunday said that civil society and people of India have strongly condemned the forced abduction, conversion and marriage of the two Sikh girls.
In Pakistan's Punjab province, a teenage Sikh girl, the daughter of a priest, was abducted and converted to Islam at gunpoint before she was married to a Muslim man, her family alleged in a video. They say she is 18-year-old.
The Sikh community in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, has held protests over the incident.
"The civil society and the people of India have strongly condemned the recent deplorable incidents of forced abduction, conversion & marriage of two Sikh girls in Pakistan. We have reflected these strong concerns with Pakistan and have asked for immediate remedial action," Kumar said on Twitter.
Another similar incident has come to light, in which a Hindu girl was allegedly abducted from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Sukkur in the Sindh province of Pakistan on Saturday and was forcefully converted to Islam.
As per reports, the undergraduate student, identified as Renuka Kumari, was abducted from her college where she was pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. All Pakistan Hindu Panchayat, a non-profit organisation, in a Facebook post claimed that the girl left for her college on August 29 and after that she went missing.
Quoting the girl’s brother, news agency ANI reported that his sister was involved in a romantic relationship with a fellow classmate Babar Aman and the two are now in Sialkot.
However, the agency while citing sources said that the couple is staying at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker Mirza Dilawar Baig residence in Sialkot.
Meanwhile, the police arrested the Aman's brother last night and is still in custody, sources added.
The latest incidents of forced conversion of minorities in Pakistan come at a time when Pakistan has been alleging India of mistreatment of minorities.