Former Pakistani legislator seeks asylum in India

A former MLA from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is desperate to seek asylum in India citing persecution of minorities under Khan’s regime.

The admission of widespread atrocities on minorities in Pakistan by a former MLA comes amid Pakistan raising the bogie of human rights violations in Kashmir. The 43-year old former MLA, Baldev Kumar, who is on a three-month visa in India, is currently staying in Punjab’s Khanna town. Prior to his arrival in India on August 11, Baldev had sent his wife Bhavna and two children to Khanna.

“We are not safe in Pakistan. I have come with a conscious mind. I am requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saab to grant me asylum and provide security to me”, he said on Tuesday. Not just minorities, Baldev claimed even Muslims feel insecure in Pakistan.

“I was put behind bars for two years”, he said, adding that he now does not want to go back to Pakistan and will formally seek political asylum in India fearing for his family's safety. He accused Imran Khan of failing to protect minorities.

On the recent controversy over the abduction and religious conversion of a Sikh girl in Pakistan, Baldev maintained that religious conversions were common in various parts of Pakistan.

Sources said officials of the Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s office have contacted Baldev in wake of the developments that have unfolded. Baldev Kumar, who was an MLA from Pakistan's Barikot reserved seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, claimed he was falsely implicated for the murder of Sikh activist Soran Singh in 2016.

The Pakistan police accused Baldev of killing Singh. He was kept behind bars for two years in Pakistan before he was eventually acquitted by the Court in 2018.

Leaders from across political parties say the disclosures made by Kumar have exposed the true face of Pakistan under Imran Khan's rule.