Cross-border pilgrims: Indian embassy seeks update on Sikh family

Sources say missing family was originally Pakistani who might want to stay back

ISLAMABAD: The High Commission of India (IHC) has approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Pakistan to get update on a missing Indian Sikh family that came on a 10-day visit to celebrate Baisakhi in Pakistan but has not returned home, with their whereabouts unknown.

“We have sought information from the government of Pakistan,” said a spokesperson for the IHC in Islamabad on Friday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said they have written a letter to the Foreign Office and have sought an update on the family’s whereabouts.

“We have written to MOFA here to investigate [the matter] and give us information about the missing family,” he added.

In what is being termed the first-ever incident of its kind in Pakistan, officials said on Thursday a four-member family, identified as 38-year-old Sunil Singh, his wife Sunita and their children Huma and Umer Singh, went missing from Hasanabdal city after the festival concluded.

The family was part of a delegation of Indian pilgrims who visited the country on April 11 to join in the Baisakhi celebrations. All other 1,713 Sikh pilgrims who came from India returned on April 20.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) – a government body responsible for maintaining shrines of minority communities in Pakistan and arranging the accommodation and security for Sikh pilgrims – said the missing family came under the umbrella of the Bhai Mardana Society, an Indian Sikh group which was given 170 visas out of the total 1,717 visas issued to various Sikh organisations of India.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2015.