Committee formed to check alleged conversion in Kashmir

A committee has been formed to look into the alleged conversion of Muslim youths to Christianity, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said on Friday.

Terming the conversion as a "grave issue", the Muslim leader said contacts were being established with "active Christian missionaries" and a grand meeting of religious heads is being convened to look into the issue.

"I am fully aware of my responsibilities.. a committee has been formed and assigned the job to collect all details," Mirwaiz was reported saying at a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.

The 32-year-old Umar is considered the more moderate of Kashmiri separatist leaders. Mirwaiz is the term for the hereditary leader of Muslims in Kashmir.

A controversy erupted earlier this month when a complaint against Pastor Khanna of the Church of North India was registered for "forcefully" converting Muslim youths.

A video depicting conversion also went viral after it was circulated on various social networking websites.

Five boys are shown taking holy dip for conversion in an artificial pond.

News reports quoted Khanna refuting the allegations and saying that the local Islamic cleric was trying to settle a personal score with him after he refused to help him in getting admission of one of his acquaintance in a local missionary school.

Bishop Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy, head of the Diocese of Amritsar for the Church of North India, said the allegations were fabricated and no material benefits were offered to anyone desirous of baptism.

Bishop Samantaroy said the Muslim youths were coming to Church for more than one year and they had voluntarily expressed their desire for baptism.

He also stated that the converts in detention have denied the allegation that they were forced to become Christians.

The grand mufti (clergy) of Kashmir, Mufti Bashir-ud-din, meanwhile has issued summons to Khanna, asking him to appear before his court over the allegations.

The Srinagar police has apparently registered an FIR under sections 153-A, 295 and 186 of the Ranbir Penal Code.

Pastor Khanna heads the All Saints Church in Srinagar.