CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is considering barring lone women from joining pilgrimage groups (jathas) to Pakistan after 48-year-old Sarabjeet Kaur, a devotee from Punjab, went missing during a recent pilgrimage.
Kaur reportedly converted to Islam, adopted the name Noor Hussain, and married Nasir Hussain of Sheikhupura soon after entering Pakistan. Police and SGPC officials later confirmed that she has three cheating and fraud cases registered against her in Punjab.
Kaur was part of a 1,932-member jatha that crossed the Attari-Wagah border on November 4 for Guru Nanak Dev’s 556th birth anniversary celebrations. When the group returned on November 13, she was missing.
An 18-second video circulating on social media shows Kaur stating before a magistrate that she had known Nasir for nine years, loved him, and was willingly converting and marrying him.
“I am currently divorced and willingly marrying him,” she says. The clip has not been independently verified, though Pakistani media reported that the nikah took place on November 5.
Following the incident, SGPC secretary Partap Singh said this was the second such case, citing the 2018 instance of Kiran Bala, now Amna Bibi, who also stayed back in Pakistan after converting to Islam and marrying there.
He said the SGPC had initially objected to Kaur travelling alone but allowed her after she produced recommendations from her village sarpanch and nambardar. Singh blamed central agencies for failing to detect that Kaur was already in contact with a Pakistani national.
“It is a failure of the agencies that they did not sense she was already in contact with a Pakistani national and that her visit was pre-planned,” he said. Singh also added that Kaur has hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community and brought a bad name to the pilgrimage process.
Police investigations revealed that Kaur’s criminal background included three fraud and cheating cases in Bathinda and Kapurthala, while her sons, Lovejot Singh and Navjot Singh, had nine cases of fraud, assault and cheating registered against them in Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Kabirpur.
Officials said Kaur listed a permanent address in Malout on her passport, but did not provide her citizenship or passport number on her Pakistan visa immigration form. Her husband has been living in the United Kingdom for over fifteen years, and her sons were reportedly not on talking terms with her.
Kapurthala SSP Gaurav Toora said police have met Kaur’s sons, visited her village in Amanipur, and are coordinating with central agencies to understand her motives for visiting Pakistan.
Gurinder Kaur, who headed the jatha, immediately informed SGPC member from Sultanpur Lodhi, Gurpreet Kaur, and asked her to visit Kaur’s house in Amanipur. Gurpreet, who had recommended Sarabjeet Kaur’s name, said she had recommended ten pilgrims in total.
SGPC officials said the incident has hurt religious sentiments and brought disrepute to the pilgrimage process, prompting the body to reconsider allowing lone women to join jathas travelling to Pakistan.
