PESHAWAR, Feb 19: The parents of a Sikh girl who has been held by a
tribesman for the last 40 days in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency and is
said to have embraced Islam have given up all hopes for the recovery of their
daughter.
"I have left the matter to divine justice," Kirpar Singh, the uncle of
Harvinder Kaur, whose Islamic name is Amina, told Dawn on Wednesday,
adding that he had done everything in his power to retrieve the girl "but the
world belongs to the powerful".
The kidnappers, Mr Singh alleged, had refused to produce the girl either
before a Jirga or the political administration of the agency.
Harvinder Kaur's family claims she is only six years' old, while her
present custodians, a Malikdinkhel family headed by Nasir Khan, say she is 12
years.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has constituted a fact-finding
committee to visit Tirah Valley and ascertain the position about the
alleged abduction of Harvinder Kaur.
The coordinator of the HRCP, NWFP chapter Mohammad Tariq said that the
commission cannot comment on the issue, unless it received a final
report of the committee.
Dr Sahib Singh, member of the Peshawar City District Council, said that
they had suggested to the government that the girl should be produced before
media and the agency administration.
"We believe that she (Kaur) is six years' old and how can a minor decide
about religion," Dr Singh said.
He alleged that when Kaur's family refused to pay ransom to the captors'
family, they declared that the girl had converted to Islam.
The elders of Sikh community said that governor NWFP Syed Iftikhar
Hussain Shah had assured them that the political authorities would recover the
girl, otherwise the government would take action against the tribesmen.
