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| Jammu Sikhs take to streets against Taliban barbarism against community | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 3: As the election bound Indian government fails to secure protection of an important religions minority in Pakistan, angry Sikhs in Jammu blocked traffic on the Jammu-Pathankot National highway near Digiana ashram early Sunday to show solidarity with Sikh community under attack from Taliban in Pakistan.
Showing anger on their faces large number of Sikh youth burnt down tyres in the middle of the road before blocking traffic on the National Highway.
The Sikh youth were shouting slogans urging Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take up the matter strongly with his Pakistani counterpart ensuring safety of Sikh families living in Pakistan.
At least 11 houses of members of the Sikh community were demolished by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s Aurakzai region after they failed to pay 'jaziya' (tax levied on non-Muslims).
Demanding stern action, Harjit Singh, a Sikh leader said," India should move International community at the earliest to expose the real face of Pakistan."
He said the manner in which the Taliban militants have attacked members of the Sikh community on the Pakistani soil clearly indicate that Pakistan has completely surrendered to whims of Taliban in the region and is gradually disintegrating.
Another Sikh leader Mohinder Pal Singh said, “the attack on Sikh community in Pakistan has also exposed the real face of the Pakistan". He demanded immediate action from the Indian authorities to ensure safety of Sikh living in Pakistan.
As already reported Pakistani Hindu and Sikh families, who have been targetted by Taliban for failing to pay 'religious' tax, left their homes and moved to Punjab province to take shelter as the government here today dismissed India's "verbal demarche" on the issue.
More than 150 Sikhs and Hindu families in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province and tribal areas have moved to Punjab for shelter as the US branded the Taliban as "ruthless killers" for targetting the minority Sikh community.
"So far, over 150 Sikh and Hindu families have arrived at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal and Rawalpindi from places like Buner, Swat and Aurakzai Agency," Evacuee Trust Property Board Chairman Asif Hashmi said.
"We have made arrangements for accommodation, food and security for the displaced Sikh and Hindu families in all five major gurdwaras in Punjab," Hashmi told PTI here.
Amid expression of concern by India over the fate of the minority comunity in NWFP after the imposition of 'jiziya' on non-Muslims, Pakistan's Foreign Office dismissed India's "verbal demarche".
"Pakistan is fully cognisant of the issue of the Sikhs and of the welfare of all its citizens, especially the minorities," Basit said.
Sikhs and Hindus had to leave their homes and properties in Buner and Swat in the NWFP after the Pakistani security forces stepped-up operation last week to flush out the Taliban from the Swat Valley.
Diplomatic sources said the issue of Sikhs being forced out of their homes in Pakistan's Aurakzai tribal agency after they failed to pay 'jiziya' or tax imposed on non-Muslims was taken up yesterday with the Foreign Office by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. It was also taken up with the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi by the External Affairs Ministry.
Branding Taliban as "ruthless killers," the US has said Taliban militants' demand for tax from the minority Sikh community was not surprising and provided all the more reason for international community to cooperate to rid the region of extremists.
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