New Delhi - India has taken up the issue of treatment of minorities with Islamabad after reports of Sikhs being persecuted by the Taliban, an official said Friday. According to media reports, Taliban militants have demolished 11 homes belonging to Sikhs in Pakistan's north-west tribal region of Aurakzai after they failed to pay jaziya, a tax levied on non-Muslims, under a version of Islamic law.

More than 35 Sikh families have been living in Ferozkhel in Aurakzai for decades, the IANS news agency reported.

"On seeing reports about Sikh families in Pakistan being driven out of their homes and being subject to jaziya and other such impositions, the government of India has taken up the question of treatment of minorities in Pakistan with the government of Pakistan," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.