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Sources emphasise that the process often follows a fixed pattern—emotional grooming, religious influence, marriage, and conversion
Nikahnama, passport of Indian woman who went missing in Pakistan (News18)
The mysterious disappearance of Indian Sikh woman Sarbjeet Kaur during a religious visit to Pakistan has triggered alarm bells within India’s security establishment, CNN-News18 has learnt. Intelligence agencies have described it as part of a larger, systematic pattern of “pilgrim recruitment” by Pakistan’s intelligence network—a covert strategy that uses marriage and forced religious conversion as tools of manipulation, relocation, and intelligence gathering.
Sources said Kaur, who was part of a Sikh jatha visiting Pakistan for Gurupurab celebrations, failed to return with the group. Preliminary information shared with Indian authorities suggests that she has married a Pakistani man in Lahore, and a Nikahnama accessed by CNN-News18 confirms that she has converted to Islam, taking the name Noor Hussain. The certificate, reportedly issued by a mosque in Sheikhupura, carries documentation of her supposed consent but top intelligence officials believe otherwise.
“This is not a case of individual choice. This is part of a recurring pattern of targeted recruitment under the guise of marriage and conversion,” a senior intelligence source said, calling it “a sophisticated soft-power penetration model” being run by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI.
Officials say that the ISI has for years been targeting women pilgrims from India’s minority communities, especially during organised religious visits to Pakistan. These visits, to revered Sikh shrines like Nankana Sahib, Panja Sahib, and Kartarpur Sahib, offer Pakistani handlers access to Indian visitors in controlled and monitored environments such as guesthouses, shrines, and transit camps.
It is here, according to intelligence reports, that surveillance teams, radical preachers, and local intermediaries work in coordination. Their aim: to identify emotionally vulnerable individuals, cultivate trust and dependency, and eventually trap them through romantic relationships and coerced marriages.
Sources emphasise that the process often follows a fixed pattern—emotional grooming, religious influence, marriage, and conversion. The so-called consent documented in the marriage certificates is often manufactured or coerced, with victims isolated from their groups or pressured under religious and emotional duress.
Once married and converted, the individual is relocated permanently within Pakistan, effectively cutting all ties with their Indian identity. In several previous cases, such individuals were later used to gather personal or community-level information, or serve as informal assets for intelligence purposes.
“This dual process of conversion and marriage is Pakistan’s way of manufacturing social capital—it allows them to create loyal assets who can later be deployed for propaganda, information, or psychological leverage,” another official said.
What makes this model particularly insidious, officials warn, is its exploitation of religious sentiment and faith-based mobility. Pilgrims visiting shrines in Pakistan often do so with deep emotional and spiritual purpose, making them ideal targets for psychological manipulation.
This pattern, officials believe, represents a new phase in Pakistan’s intelligence outreach—one that moves beyond conventional espionage into social engineering. By embedding Indian citizens within local Pakistani communities through marriage and religious conversion, the ISI is believed to be building a long-term, low-visibility network of sympathizers and operatives.
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
Islamabad, Pakistan
November 15, 2025, 10:17 IST
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