Lahore: Outlaws in Pakistan's Punjab province have kidnapped three Hindus and demanded police release their accomplices or they would kill the members of the minority community. Police said on Thursday that the kidnapping took place in the Bhong area of Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab province, some 400 km southwest of Lahore, on Wednesday.
The three Hindu youths -- Shaman, Shameer and Sajan -- were present near Chowk Sawetra Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Bhong when five armed dacoits held them up at gunpoint and took them to Katcha (riverine belt) area. Later outlaws' ring leader Ashiq Korai released a video message addressing police officer of Ahmedpur Lama police station Rana Ramzan warning him to release his (Korai) 10 family members otherwise they “will not only kill the kidnapped Hindu youths but also attack the police.”
The young Hindus were seen in the video in chains appealing to the authorities for their release. Last year, some 12 policemen were killed and seven injured in an attack on two police vehicles by dacoits in the Kacha area of Rahim Yar Khan district.
The dacoits of the Katcha area, a riverine belt in the plains of southern Punjab province and Sindh province, are so powerful that despite several operations, the Punjab police have failed to clear the area. The outlaws operate at will and kidnap people mostly for ransom. They kidnap the minority community of Hindus, usually to pressure the authorities to release their accomplices.
Minor Hindu girl abducted, married off to elderly man
Earlier last year, a minor Hindu girl was abducted and forcibly married off to an elderly man who converted her to Islam in Pakistan's Sindh province. Shiva Faqir Kaachi, who heads the Pakistan Darawar Ittehad organisation, said the 16-year-old girl was abducted from her village in Hunguru on Wednesday and forcibly married off to a much older man who converted her to Islam.
“The girl was taken to a seminary near the Samura area and married off. When the parents went to the seminary on Thursday to see her, the cleric refused to let them in," Kaachi said. "It has now become a regular occurrence for Hindu families to see their young daughters and sisters forcibly taken away and converted to be married off to Muslim men in these places,” he said.
(With inptus from agency)
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