Union Home Minister Amit Shah met a 13-member Sikh delegation in Delhi on Sunday evening. He took to microblogging website Twitter to share a picture with the delegation from the All Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee of Kashmir. The meeting comes days after some Sikh women were made to forcefully convert their faith in the union territory.

Sources say the delegation spoke about their issues in the meeting with the home minister.

Shah has said that the government is closely monitoring that any such incidents of forceful conversion of faith do not take place in Jammu and Kashmir. He has assured that the protection of the Sikh community in Jammu and Kashmir is the responsibility of the government.

It has also been assured that strict action will be taken against the culprits in the previous incidents of conversion of Sikh women in the UT.

Last Monday, members of the Sikh community protested in Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Srinagar, Reasi, and Anantnag over the issue. They had also blocked highways in Kathua and Jammu. 

A delegation led by Bharatiya Janata Party’s RP Singh had on Tuesday met Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and reportedly, submitted a draft of their demands, including an Uttar Pradesh-like anti-conversion law in J&K, to the minister at his residence

“The incident of forced nikah of an 18-year-old Silk girl with a 60-year-old man is not a standalone incident of religion conversation. The religious conversation of Sikh girls has been going on for a long time. We have requested the minister of state for Home Affairs to ask the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor to enact a law against love jihad, like the ones passed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh government, in Kashmir as well. The Minister should ask the LG to bring an ordinance for the protection of Sikh girls,” Singh had said.