New Delhi | A war of words erupted on Sunday between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary over reports of abduction of two Hindu teenaged girls and their forcible conversion to Islam on the eve of Holi in the Sindh province.
In a tweet, Swaraj sought a report from Indian envoy in Pakistan Ajay Bisaria on the reported abduction of the girls and their forcible conversion to Islam. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the matter.
Responding to Swaraj’s tweet, Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary said: “Maam its Pakistan’s internal issue and (be) rest assured it’s not Modi’s India where minorities are subjugated, it’s Imran Khan’s Naya Pak where white colour of our flag is equally dearer to us.” “I hope you’ll act with same diligence when it comes to rights of Indian minorities,” he said.
Swaraj, in her response to Chaudhary, said she had only asked for a report from the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad about the kidnapping and forced conversion of two minor Hindu girls to Islam. “This was enough to make you jittery. This only shows your guilty conscience,” she said.
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. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown solemnising the Nikah (marriage) of the two girls. In a separate video, the minor girls can be seen saying that they accepted Islam of their own free will.
According to media reports, the Hindu community in the area staged protests, demanding action against perpetrators of the alleged crime. In a Twitter post in Urdu, Information Minister Chaudhry said the prime minister has asked the Sindh chief minister to look into reports that the girls in question have been taken to Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab. India has been raising the issue of plight of minorities, particularly the Hindu community in Pakistan.
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