Gurdwara from where the girl went missing. (Express photo: Pritpal Singh)

A 15-year old Sikh girl, who had gone missing from Baba Sri Chand gurdwara in Kabul’s Shor Bazar Friday, was reunited with her family Monday, local community leaders told The Indian Express. Her family claimed that she was taken away Friday by a local Muslim youth who “brainwashed and threatened” her to marry him and “convert to Islam”.

Sikh community members said the girl was “convinced to return” by the efforts of government and local Sikh MP Narinder Singh Khalsa. A police complaint has been registered for an attempt to forcefully marry a minor girl.

“The girl was influenced and taken away on the pretext of marriage. She is a minor. We have rescued her and brought her back. She is at my home and safe. People who influenced and took her away are in police custody. Police is helping us,” Khalsa told The Indian Express over phone.

The girl’s 22-year-old brother, who lives with his mother and brother on the gurdwara premises, said, “My sister is just 15. She doesn’t know anything about the world and atrocities inflicted on Sikhs here. A local Muslim youth who lives in a house opposite to the gurdwara brainwashed and threatened my sister and took her away. She was taken to Panjshir from where we brought her back today. They tried to get her married forcibly. She was instigated against her own family.”

The girl had lost her father in an Islamic State (IS) terror attack at Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul on March 25. At least 25 members of the Sikh community were killed in the attack.

The girl’s brother, who runs a medicine and cosmetics shop in Kabul, said, “Each day here is now a punishment. You don’t know when you will be targeted again.”

Against the backdrop of the incident, the Sikh community in Afghanistan has reiterated its demand for immediate evacuation to India.