Action sought against Muslim youth for marrying a Buddhist girl

ZANSKAR — Ladakh Buddhist Association has threatened to create a stir in the region in case alleged conversion of a Buddhist girl to Muslim was not stopped.

The Association has written to LG Ladakh Radha Krishna Mathur, alleging that a Muslim youth from Padum Zanskar has ‘forcibly’ married to a Buddhist girl. The Association has demanded that the girl should be recovered and handed back to the family, otherwise there are apprehensions of communal disturbances in the region.

A local from Zanskar told news agency Kashmir News Trust that interfaith marriages are not new in Ladakh region, but unfortunately, such issues have started attracting attention from past few years. He said several years back, dozens of Buddhists willingly embraced Islam, though the action of those Buddhists had invited sharp reaction from Ladakh Buddhist Association.

In a communique to Lieutenant Governor, the Ladakh Buddhist Association has alleged that the soul motive of interfaith marriage is forceful conversion. It said that intercommunity forceful conversion through ‘allured’ marriages in Ladakh have always triggered ill-fated communal riots in the past, causing extensive damages to the private and public properties.

The Association has claimed that communal riots are bound to happen in the region if administration fails to recover the girl.