LAHORE, Pakistan: An Indian Sikh woman who travelled to Pakistan for a religious pilgrimage has converted to Islam and married a Pakistani man, officials said on Saturday.
The woman, identified as 48-year-old Sarbjeet Kaur, arrived in Pakistan on 4 November with a group of Indian Sikh pilgrims attending the birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism.
According to marriage documents, she converted to Islam, adopted the name Noor, and married 49-year-old Nasir Hussain, a resident of Farooqabad in Sheikhupura district, on 5 November.
Authorities launched a search for Kaur after she failed to return to India with the rest of the Sikh pilgrims on 13 November, the day her visa also expired. Officials initially treated her absence as a missing person case.
Later, it emerged that she had remained in Pakistan after converting to Islam and solemnising her marriage. The marriage certificate states that the agreed haq mehr was 10,000 Pakistani rupees, which has already been paid.
Local officials said Kaur’s conversion and marriage placed her under Pakistani jurisdiction. Reports indicated she has since taken up the name Noor as part of her conversion.
