Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Demanding security: BJP activists shouting slogans in the Capital of India, Delhi on Monday against killing of Sikhs in Pakistan. NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP staged a demonstration near the Pakistan High Commission here on Monday to protest against the brutal murder of two Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan.

The protesters, led by Delhi BJP president O. P. Kohli, later submitted a memorandum at the High Commission demanding that the Pakistan Government take immediate steps to provide security to the minority community.

Agitated over the deaths in Pakistan, the protesters – who also included Leader of Opposition in Dellhi Assembly V. K. Malhotra, Delhi BJP vice-president Nand Kishore Garg, general secretary R. P. Singh and president of Sikh Cell Jaspal Singh — assembled near Teen Murti and raised slogans against the atrocities being committed on the minorities in Pakistan. Carrying banners and placards on which slogans like “Stop atrocities on Sikhs”, “Provide security to minorities” and “Punish the barbaric Taliban”, the protesters then walked some distance before the Delhi Police stopped by erecting a barricade near Nehru Planetarium.

Addressing the protesters, Prof. Kohli said it was disturbing that the minorities were attacked every now and then in Pakistan.

“They are forced to convert and the Pakistan Government is helpless. Until the terrorist activities of the Taliban are not curbed, relations between the two countries will not become normal,” he said. The Delhi BJP president also questioned the “meaning” of Secretary level talks between the two countries in an atmosphere in which members of the Sikh community were being beheaded in Pakistan.

In the memorandum, the BJP has also noted that because some of the Sikhs were still being held captive by the Taliban and efforts should be made to provide security to all the minorities in Pakistan. They also stated that Jazia tax was imposed on Sikhs last year because of which many members of the minority community were forced to migrate to other cities.

Stating that it was “a matter of regret that the Pakistan Government has failed to provide to the minority community living in Pakistan adequate security”, the memorandum stated that such a situation stands in the way of normalising relations between the two countries.

In Kolkata over 100 Sikh and Hindus jammed Rashbehari xing and torched the effigies of  Talibans and Pak administrators in protest of recent beheading of two Sikh buisenessmen and abduction of a  Hindu IT professional. They cautioned the authorities any negligence found to penalize the offenders may cause severe retaliation over the mute supporters of Taliban and Islamic Fundamentalists.