Chandigarh : A Sikh woman from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district who went to Pakistan on a pilgrimage has reportedly embraced Islam and married a Lahore-based Pakistani man, according to her family which alleged that she may have fallen into the hands of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and forced to convert and remarry.
The family of the woman, Kiran Bala, 31, said on Thursday that they had no official communication from any quarter about her well-being and current status. The family is based in a village in Garhshankar sub-division of Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, around 110 km from here.
The woman left for Pakistan on the pilgrimage as part of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) delegation on April 12 and reportedly went missing on April 16. She went to Pakistan on her Indian passport with a Pakistani visa valid till April 21.
Reports reaching her family in Punjab indicated that the woman embraced Islam at Darul-Aloom Jamia Naeemia in Lahore on April 16 and later had a “nikah” (marriage) with Pakistani national Muhammed Azam.
Her elderly father-in-law, Tarsem Singh, alleged that his daughter-in-law could have fallen into the hands of the ISI and may have been forced to convert and remarry there, reports IANS.
However, what is curious is that in her application for extension of the Pakistan visa, her name was mentioned as Amna Bibi while the signature was done as Amina.
She applied for extension of the visa, citing “threats of assassination” to her life in India, before Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, according to a report in the Pakistani media.
Another report in the News daily also posted pictures of the woman and her visa extension application on its website.
Kiran Bala, 31, a widow, is a mother of three and was living with her children and in-laws at their village. Her husband passed away in 2013.