Sikhs angry over forcible conversion of women in Kashmir

Sikh religious leaders in India have demanded an anti-conversion law in the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir region after two Sikh women were kidnapped, converted and married to Muslim men.

The Sikhs, including their influential religious body Akal Takht, called for an anti-conversion law after officials confirmed on June 27 that two Sikh women in Srinagar town were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam.

One of them was converted at gunpoint and both were forced to marry their abductors, local reports said.

"There is an interfaith marriage law in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh against forceful religious conversion. We want the same law to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir for the safety of Sikh minority girls," Akal Takht chief Giani Harpreet Singh said in his letter to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Seven Indian states, mostly ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have laws that restrict religious conversions. These laws make it a criminal offense to force anyone to change religion.

Sikh leaders said the community was agitated over the forcible marriages of Sikh girls.

There is outrage among the Sikh community worldwide about such repeated incidents

Local reports said one 18-year-old woman was married to a 60-year-old man. The other was above 20 but both were forced to marry much older men.

"There is outrage among the Sikh community worldwide about such repeated incidents,” said the Sikh leader's letter to Sinha, who runs the federally administered Jammu and Kashmir territory.

Sikh leaders alleged that at least four Sikhs have been kidnapped and forcefully converted in the region in the last month.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, led a delegation to see Sinha, who assured them of action for the safe return of the girls.

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the powerful Sikh body based in Sikh-majority Punjab state, promised support for the girls' families.

President Bibi Jagir Kaur advocated that "people in the country" should stick to the religion they are born in.

In Kashmir, several Muslim leaders have now condemned forceful conversions.

“Sikh brethren are a part and parcel of Kashmir’s society. There is no place for forcible conversion in Islam and reports of forcible conversion at gunpoint can never be considered as a conversion in Islamic jurisprudence,” said Muslim cleric grand mufti Nasir-ul-Islam of Jammu and Kashmir.

kashmiri leaders 

Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region bordering Pakistan, witnessed angry Sikh protests. One protester said these conversions were "part of ethnic cleansing".

A delegation of Punjab-based political party Akali Dal submitted a memorandum to governor Sinha demanding legal steps to protect the rights of Sikh women.

Sikhs have been supporting Muslims in their political struggles to oppose BJP policies that aim to make India a Hindu nation

Jammu and Kashmir, which previously enjoyed special constitutional rights, has been under the federal rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since Aug. 5, 2019, when the region’s autonomy was withdrawn.

Some Muslim politicians including the region’s former chief minister Omar Abdullah said the latest case has been blown out of proportion for political gain.

Sikhs have been supporting Muslims in their political struggles to oppose BJP policies that aim to make India a Hindu nation, ignoring the rights of religious minorities.

Dividing the religious minorities is part of a BJP game, some observers say.

Abdullah said any move to drive a wedge between Sikhs and Muslims in Kashmir will cause "irreparable harm" to the region.

“The authorities should move quickly to investigate the recent cause of tension and, if anyone has broken the law, they should be prosecuted and necessary punishment handed out," he said.

Abdullah tweeted: "The two communities [Muslim and Sikh] have supported each other through thick and thin, having withstood countless attempts to damage age-old relationships.”

Hindu-Muslim conflicts: Partition 1947

UCAN report 

Exposed by Conversion of two Sikh women, Kashmir Muslim leaders go on defensive, plea 'harmony' 

New Delhi: In recent times, in New Delhi and other places, a narrative was being created that Sikhs and Muslims as religious minorities should stick together against the ruling BJP.

During January 2020 protests against the new citizenship law several Sikh individuals and bodies had rendered support to the protesting Muslim community protesters especially women who staged month-long sit on at Shaheen Bagh, but all that now stands exposed as hollow.

A major 'conversion row' has been triggered in Jammu and Kashmir with the officials and community leaders confirming that two girls from the Sikh community in Sringar were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam 

and married off.

The episode has exposed a pattern of ethnic cleansing and 'deliberate conversion to Islam ploy' from Kerala to Kashmir now.

Obviously, there is tension and the Muslim leadership is on defensive.

An aggrieved Sikh leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa lamented that the Sikh community had supported the Muslim community during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of National Conference has said that "....if anyone has broken the law should be prosecuted and necessary punishment handed out". 

Sikh community leaders alleged that in the last one month, at least four Sikhs have been kidnapped and "forcefully converted" in the province.  

The influential Akal Takht has come forward with the demand for an anti-conversion law in Jammu and Kashmir in line with the similar legislation in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The religious body 'Sri Akal Takht Sahib' based in Punjab's Amritsar, the town that houses the famous Golden Temple, has penned a letter to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

"....There is an interfaith marriage law in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh against forceful religious conversion. We want the same law should be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir for the safety of Sikh minority girls," chief of Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh said in his letter.

He further said, "There is a strong outrage among Sikh community worldwide on such repeated incidents".

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), also led a

delegation to J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, who assured them to do the needful to ensure the return

of the girls.

“The delegation took up the matter of forced marriage of Sikh girls in Srinagar. The Lt Governor addressed our concerns related to the safety of Sikh girls in the Valley and this harmful trend of religious conversion,” the

DSGMC said.

Punjab-based most prestigious and powerful Sikh body, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur also expressed support for the family and the girl, who got forcibly converted to Islam in Kashmir.

She advocated that "people in the country" should stick to the religion they are born in.

On defensive, Muslim cleric grand mufti Nasir-ul-Islam of Jammu and Kashmir. said: “The Sikh brethren are a part and parcel of Kashmir’s society. There is no place for forcible conversion in

Islam and reports of forcible conversion of Sikh girl to other religion on a gun-point can never be considered as a conversion in Islamic jurisprudence".

Reports said, teams of the Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a body of religious leaders and religious bodies, also visited the family of one Sikh girl who was allegedly forced to marry a elderly Muslim man.

Angry protests and demonstrations were held in Jammu. The community

leaders said it was worse that a 60-year-old elderly Muslim with two wives married the 18-year-old girl.

One Sikh protester said these conversions to Islam were like "part of the ethnic cleansing". 

However, PDP leader Md Rashid Qurashi said his party would "never ever support" any strong anti-conversion

law.

In one case (of the two fresh cases of conversion), the woman has said that she had opted for the marriage herself. 

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of National Conference also cautioned that any move to drive a wedge between Sikhs and Muslims in Kashmir will cause "irreparable harm to Jammu and Kashmir".

“The authorities should move quickly to investigate the recent cause of tension and if anyone has broken the law should be prosecuted and necessary punishment handed out," he said.

Abdullah tweeted: "The two communities (Muslims and Sikhs) have supported each other through thick and thin, having withstood countless attempts to damage age-old relationships".

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