Author: IANS
Publication: Yahoo.com
Date: October 28, 2012
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/vhp-support-leh-bandh-142700745.html

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sunday announced its support to a call for a shutdown of Leh Monday. The civil society of Buddhist-majority Ladakh has called for a strike to protest the "forcible conversion of Buddhists by the Muslims".

Twenty-six Buddhists of Zanskar tehsil in Kargil district allegedly converted to Islam last month.

VHP state president Rama Kant Dubey said: "Forcible conversions of these Buddhists in Zanskar area of Kargil were done at behest of the Muslim community, against the wishes of Buddhists. There is criminal silence of the administration against the people who compelled the Buddhists to embrace Islam. It shows the connivance of the administration."

Dubey questioned why no action was taken against officials despite a protest lodged by the VHP and the Buddhists of those areas.

According to Muslim community leaders, "a few Buddhist families in Zanskar in Kargil district converted to Islam of their own free will without any force or coercion last month".