Four Hindu families from Pak seek refuge in India

Four Hindu families from Pak seek refuge in India
Amritsar, March 7 (PTI)
Stating that they do not wish to return to Pakistan due to Taliban's tyranny in the tribal areas, a group of 35 Hindus, nearly half of them women, from the neighbouring country have crossed over to India and asked the government to allow them to settle in the country. "We were living in Pakistan under extreme fear due to the domination of a strong group of Taliban who are running a parallel government," Jagdish Sharma, a resident of tribal area near Peshawar in Pakistan, said. I Recounting their ordeal, he said "Hindus and Sikh families are not safe, especially our women. We preferred to migrate in India, at least here in India we know that our families will be safe." The four families comprising 16 men, 16 women and three children crossed over to India during the last few days through the Attari check post and later went to Delhi where they got a one-year visa and permission to stay in Amritsar. "We strongly urge the Government of India to allow us to stay here in India permanently, since we don't want to move back in that hell where there is no life security," said Sharma. Hardwari Lal, resident of Orkzai nearly 180 km from Peshawar, said, "I was running my grocery shop there which was forcibly taken over by the fundamentalists who also took possession of our entire property". PTI