pakistani islamists

pAKISTANI Islamic group says convert's Islam is not true
Trouble in a Sikh's Khamosh Pani: by Qazi B


ISLAMABAD: This Sikh, cornered by the forces of history and a subcontinental politics in tectonic convulsions, was forced to give up his religion and convert to Islam 29 years ago, but now an Islamist group in Pakistan has forced him to leave his village in Peshawar's Tirah Valley. His house was set on fire and his son kidnapped for not embracing "authentic Islam". Leaders of Ansar-ul-Islam (AI), a religious group in North West Frontier Province's Khyber Agency, was accused of expelling the Tirah-based Sikh-turned-Muslim for converting to the "Lashkar-e-Islam's untrue version of Islam".

"Qazi Mehboob and Said Akbar came to me and said my first Islam is not genuine. They said it was tableeghi Islam," said Din Muhammad, who had converted to Islam 29 years ago.

The Ansar-ul-Islam leaders also forced his family to leave their native village Landakas in Tirah Valley when he refused to accept their demand to revert to Sikhism or embrace the "authentic Islam" that the Ansar-ul-Islam was practising.

He accused the Ansar-ul-Islam activists of kidnapping one of his four sons and forcing him to a pay a ransom of Rs 200,000 for his release.

They also set his house on fire a month ago and seized his land.

"I am now living in a rented house in Sureyzai village near Peshawar along with my wife, four sons and six daughters, Din said, adding that he was jobless and only his eldest son was working at a poultry farm.

"We are living from hand to mouth, he said, adding that the Sikh community in Tirah Valley had abandoned them when he and his family converted to Islam.

Din denied having links with any religious group, particularly the 'Lashkar-e-Islam.'

Din also told mediapersons at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday that the so-called religious groups in Khyber Agency were bringing a bad name to Islam and urged the government to take strict action against them.
Source: http://worldsikhnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=506