Ambala, May 6 : Members of the Sikh community staged a protest here on Wednesday against the atrocities being committed on their brethren by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Raising slogans against the Pakistan Government, the protesters expressed their anguish against the treatment being meted out to Sikhs in the North West Front Province
(NWFP).

They also burnt an effigy of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and demanded that the Pakistan Government provide protection to the minorities living in that country.

"We are staging a protest against the Pakistan Government. The Sikhs inside Pakistan are being mistreated. Jaziya has been imposed on them. They were rendered homeless and their businesses were destroyed. We appeal to the Pakistan Government to provide security to the minority people living there," said Surjeet Singh Sehgal, a protester.

The Taliban demolished at least 11 houses belonging to the Sikh community on Thursday in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan after they refused to pay ''Jazia''.

Jazia was a tax imposed on non- Muslims for their protection during the Mughal period but continues even today in some parts. (ANI)