Ex-PTI MPA Baldev Kumar seeks political asylum in India

Karachi: A former PTI MPA form Khyber Paktunkhwa  has sought political asylum in India a year after being acquitted of murder charges.

“Minorities in Pakistan are not feeling secure and they have been denied rights. There is an increase in atrocities and target killings. I was put behind bars for two years,” he told Indian reporters.

Local media said he has moved to Ludhiana along with his family and requested Indian prime minister to grant him political asylum.

In April last year an Anti-Terrorism Court in Buner district  acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s minority Member Provincial Assembly Baldev Kumar in the murder case of lawmaker Soran Singh by giving him the benefit of doubt.

He was arrested in the murder case of PTI leader Soran Singh, who was killed on April 22, 2016 in Buner district.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notified Baldev Kumar as MPA as his name was on top of the list of candidates submitted by the PTI for the reserved seats for minorities following Soran Singh’s killing.

However, during investigation, Baldev Kumar was nominated in the murder case of Soran Singh and was arrested