AMRITSAR: A Sikh woman who traveled to Pakistan on pilgrimage has married a man in Lahore and converted to Islam. Widow from Hoshiarpur, Kiran Bala has left behind three young children with her father-in-law to marry Muhammad Azam, who she met online, and has known for over a year and a half. Authorities meanwhile wonder if she was coerced into converting and marrying the man. Kiran, who now identifies herself as Amna Bibi, has however claimed that she married and converted on her own will.
She said, “It was not on Facebook (that we met), it was social media. I did everything by myself, no one forced me to do anything.” She however, refused to say which media platform. Amna shifted to the neighbouring country with an Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee-led jatha to celebrate Baisakhi via the Attari land border on April 12. She went to Lahore-based Dar-ul-Ulaoom Naeemia on April 16, and embraced Islam, then she married Azam. Amna wrote a letter to the Pakistan Interior Ministry the same day seeking a visa extension and alleging a threat to her life in India.
The SGPC has alleged that the incident reflects on the Indian intelligence's failure. Pilgrims are sent to Pakistan every year in a jatha. Their passports are inspected by Indian authorities and several applications are rejected. Amna's father-in-law Tarsem Singh has appealed to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for help. He said he fears she was persuaded by radical Muslims to wage jihad. “I fear she has been indoctrinated with ISIS ideology and converted to Islam but still I need her back home to take care of her three children.” He added, “She called me from Pakistan a couple of times after April 12 to ask about the well-being of her children and everything seemed normal. That was until her last call when she said she had converted to Islam and married a man. I thought she was joking.”
Amna's eldest daughter said she had asked her to “take care” of her younger siblings and “obey the grandparents”. “Mummy has taken away all her jewelry, cash and clothes. She told me that my silver ankles were in the almirah, but today, when I checked, those were also missing,” she said.
