A concerned New Delhi has communicated its concerns to Islamabad over reports of Sikhs being forced by the Taliban to leave their homes in Pakistan’s northwest region and being asked to pay special taxes.
The Ministry of External Affairs is learnt to have summoned a diplomat of the Pak High Commission to register its “unhappiness.” The Indian mission in Islamabad conveyed similar views to the Pak Foreign Office.
Said MEA spokesperson Vishnu Prakash: “On seeing reports about Sikh families in Pakistan being driven out of their homes and being subjected to Jaziya (“protection tax” on non-Muslims under Shariah), the Government of India has taken up the question of treatment of minorities with the government of Pakistan.”
Geo TV said Taliban militants took over shops and homes of 35 Sikh families and arrested community leaders in the Ferozkhel in FATA’s Lower Orakzai Agency. They ruled that the community should pay Rs 15 million as annual protection money. And when residents said they couldn’t pay, the Taliban auctioned their houses, forcing many to migrate
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