By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : Desperate for the safe release of his 32-year-old son Robin Singh from the Pakistani Taliban, Toronto-based Bishan Dass said his son faces threat of conversion.
An IT professional with degrees from the US, Robin Singh was kidnapped by the militants in Peshawar Feb 12 for a ransom of 10 million rupees. A father of three sons, Singh is one of the four Sikhs abducted recently by the Pakistan Taliban from Peshawar for ransom.
“My wife Shama and I have been broken by this tragic happening. We don’t have the money pay, and we don’t know what to do. We have slept very little since then,” 70-year-old Dass told IANS.
A former national vice president of the National Bank of Pakistan, Dass immigrated to Canada in 1999 and lives in the Indian-dominated suburb of Brampton here.
“After kidnapping Robin Singh when he was on his way back home from Peshawar University, the militants called my elder son Rajat Singh to demand the ransom. They are now threatening him (Rajat),” he said.
Dass said his sons have been targeted because they are baptized Sikhs. “I am appealing to the Canadian government to help us …we are a Sikh family and my baptized sons are under threat. They are under threat to convert,” the shaken father said.
Dass, who was sponsored by his another son Sajan Singh (who came to Canada in 1997), was reluctant to involve India in the issue. “India can’t do anything. In fact, its mention will only complicate things for us.”
He said he was happy with the efforts made by the Pakistani authorities to get his son released. “Pakistan minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti is trying his best. I have spoken to him. President Zardari has also mentioned the case in his speeches. They are doing their best.”
Dass said Sikhs and Hindus in Peshawar have always lived peacefully alongside the Muslim majority. “About 3,000 Sikhs and about 500 Hindus are spread around the city, and we never faced any problem or discrimination till the Taliban came in 1999. Only the terrorists have created problems for us.”
Pleading with Canada to get his beleaguered family out of Peshawar, Dass said, “My one son is kidnapped. His wife and three little boys are distraught. Another son is getting threats. Please help us.”
Dass said he was too scared and old to go to Pakistan to plead with the militants. “We are just praying and crying.”
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at [email protected])