Pakistani Sikh leader narrates ordeal who was forced to flee
A Pakistani Sikh politician Radesh Singh Tony who was forced to flee Pakistan following a series of threats and tortured by some unidentified people last month, shared a video on social media narrating out his ordeal. He requested the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder S Sirsa to help him in protecting his family and find a safe place to live.
While retweeting the video, Sirsa wrote, "We assure @aoepoeRadesh Ji that we stand united to raise your issue at every platform and support you in your fight for justice. We share the grief of minorities in Pakistan who are facing atrocities; we will support him in finding safe passage & ensuring safety of his family."
Radesh Singh Tony, who had contested the 2018 general elections in Pakistan from Peshawar as an independent candidate, was allegedly tortured by some unidentified people last month. He claims to have received threats and is forced to leave the country.
The 45-second video of Tony surfaced on the internet on Wednesday after it was released from an unverified Twitter account and where he could be seen appealing to the Sikh community to help him and his family and take them out to "some safe place". The twitter bio reads: "Loves Humanity #PEACE Ambassador Human Rights Activist and want to see my country economically strong and stable Without Terrorism Highly Educated Citizens."
In the video, he reiterated that he is still receiving life threats from Pakistan and is concerned about the safe future of his family. "...My life was in danger. So, all I could do for my children was to protect their future. I want to see my family safe and sound. Right now, I am getting such calls from Pakistan... which I am not picking up...is troubling me...I should be (helped) to get rid of it," Tony said in the video.
"I appeal to my Sikh Community those who are abroad, Please help me and my family and take me out to some safe place at this world," Tony tweeted along with a video on Wednesday.
In another video, he asserted that his life is under threat. He appeals to Sirsa to help him and his family in relocating from Pakistan.
As per the Dawn report, the PK-75 candidate was a "prominent member of the local Sikh community and the president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Pakistan Minorities Alliance."
This is not the first time that incidents like this have come to fore. Last year, a former MLA from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Baldev Kumar, had sought asylum in India along with his family following the atrocities by the government.
Islamabad is discriminating against its religious minorities, which is manifested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes, forced conversion to Islam, etc., making the Pakistani Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyyas, and Shias, one of the most persecuted minorities in the region.
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