Sikh student’s turban removed, tortured in Pakistan school
Faisalabad (Pakistan), March 22 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) An Amritdhari Sikh girl’s turban was allegedly removed by force and she was brutally beaten at a Christian school in Faisalabad district (formerly Lyallpur), of Pakistan, according to a report in Khalsa Vox.
Sikh Brotherhood International, a community organisation and social media group dedicated to promoting Sikh values, has strongly condemned the incident and has reportedly demanded strict action against the school administration.
Khalsa Vox reported the victim, a Sikh girl, as a student at St. Catherine Girls High School in the Warispura area of Faisalabad.
The victim’s mother, who has three other daughters and one son, claimed that her daughter was allegedly stripped of her turban by the school authorities and was also reportedly kicked and punched in the stomach after she refused to participate in Christian prayers, according to reports cited by a journalist.
Mentioning that the victim suffers from asthma, the mother was further quoted in the report that when her other daughter attempted to help the victim, the teachers allegedly stopped her, claiming she was pretending to be sick and dramatising her pain.
The mother of the victim accused Sikh leaders in Pakistan of not extending support despite her appeal for help. She sought action against the accused for “mistreatment of her daughter.”
According to Khalsa Vox, the victim’s mother herself had been a victim of assault before. The mother had earlier claimed that she was illegally confined in a house by two brothers for nine months in Pakistan’s Faisalabad and was allegedly subjected to sexual assault and torture by them and their father.
She claimed that during her confinement, one of the accused, along with their mother, had allegedly dishonoured her son’s hair (a sacred aspect of Sikh identity).
After this case came to light, following a report by a journalist, the Minister for Minority Affairs in Punjab (Pakistan), intervened and pressured Faisalabad police to secure her release, Khalsa Vox reported.
The report further states that Sikh community members in the country have been compelled to question the authorities following such heinous acts against minorities in the Muslim-dominated nation.
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