- Conversions of non-Muslim girls to Islam in Pakistan are largely to pave the way for marriages that are under the legal age and non-consensual
- Forced conversions thrive unchecked on a money-making web that involves Islamic clerics who solemnize the marriages, magistrates who legalize the unions and corrupt local police who aid the culprits
- US-based Sindhi Foundation had said that every year, around 1,000 young Sindhi Hindu girls between the age of 12 and 28 are abducted, forcibly married and converted to Islam.
- In December 2019, Associated Press had accessed a list of 629 Pakistani girls and women, who were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China in 2018 and up to early 2019.
- In 2019, The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in its report on religious freedom in Pakistan observed that Pakistan has institutionalized attack on its minorities by passing of discriminatory legislation by the Imran Khan led Tehreek-e-Insaf government.
Nearly 1,000 girls from religious minorities i.e Hindus, Sikhs and Christian communities, are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year. Such conversions are largely to pave the way for marriages that are under the legal age and non-consensual says a Associated Press report. Human rights activists say the practice has accelerated during lockdowns due to COVID, when girls are out of school and more visible. Bride traffickers are more active on the Internet and families are more in debt says the AP report.
The U.S. State Department this month declared Pakistan “a country of particular concern” for violations of religious freedoms. The declaration was based on an appraisal by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that underage girls in the minority Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities were “kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam, forcibly married and subjected to rape.” While most of the converted girls are impoverished Hindus from southern Sindh province, several cases involving Christians and Sikh girls have been reported across the country in recent months.
The AP report says that the girls generally are kidnapped by complicit acquaintances and relatives or men looking for brides. Sometimes they are taken by powerful landlords as payment for outstanding debts by their farmhand parents, and police often look the other way. Once converted, the girls are quickly married off, often to older men or to their abductors, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Forced conversions thrive unchecked on a money-making web that involves Islamic clerics who solemnize the marriages, magistrates who legalize the unions and corrupt local police who aid the culprits by refusing to investigate or sabotaging investigations, say child protection activists. Last year, a US-based Sindhi Foundation had said that every year, around 1,000 young Sindhi Hindu girls between the age of 12 and 28 are abducted, forcibly married and converted to Islam.
Earlier this month, US Ambassador-at-large for the International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback accused Pakistan of selling Hindu and Christian girls to the rich people from China. The IRF ambassador tweeted “Hindu and Christian women from poor and marginalized communities in Pakistan are vulnerable to traffickers falsely promising marriage to wealthy Chinese men. Once married in China, these women are often isolated, neglected, abused and, at times, sold as prostitutes.”
Ambassador’s revelation came at a time when there are evidence of state-sponsored brutalities on minorities emerging from Pakistan. While speaking to the press about ‘forced brides or concubines’ of Pakistan, Sam observed that it was happening “because there’s not effective support and there’s discrimination against religious minorities that make them more vulnerable”.
In Dec 2019, The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in its report on religious freedom in Pakistan observed that Pakistan has institutionalized attack on its minorities by passing of discriminatory legislation by the Imran Khan led Tehreek-e-Insaf government. This has empowered Islamic extremists to mistreat religious minorities and carry out attacks on them.
The 47-page report titled “Pakistan-Religious freedom under attack” was released by UN CSW in December 2019. The commission has also expressed concerns over the increasing “weaponisation and politicisation” of the blasphemy laws which are used by the fundamentalists to target the minorities. It also castigated the Pak government legislation which is being used by the Islamic radicals to persecute religious minorities and gain political ground.
Most importantly, the commission in its report has said that the Hindu and Christian communities in Pakistan are most vulnerable, especially women and girls. The commission also said that human rights activists in Pakistan who speak for minorities face constant threats and intimidation from several quarters, especially Islamic fundamentalists.
Major Cases of Abduction and Conversion of Non-Muslim girls
In December 2019, Associated Press had accessed a list of 629 Pakistani girls and women, who were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China in 2018 and up to early 2019.
In June 2019, a Hindu girl identified as Priyanka Kumari was kidnapped by a gang of Muslim youth in Sindh province. As per local reports, some Muslim youths armed with weapons first attacked a Hindu family in Shah Latif Colony of Nayan Kot area of Sindh. Later they threatened the family at gun point and kidnapped the minor girl. During the same month, a case of kidnapping and forced conversion of Aisha to Islam was reported from Mirpurkhas in Sindh.
In July, three Hindu girls were kidnapped and were forcibly converted to Islam and married off in Sindh again. These incidents were reported within 24 hours. Two of these cases were from Tando Mohammad Khan district, where Muslim youths kidnapped Shevani and 15-year-old Santara. Later, a Maulvi forcibly converted them and married them off to Muslim youths.
The third case was from Mirpurkhas itself. A Hindu girl named Bhagwanti was forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim youth. Bhagwanti’s father had told that the accused has threatened to kill her if they make any attempt to take their daughter back. He said that after being converted to Islam, reverting to the old faith and leaving Islam is punishable by death, he threatened.
In January 2020, frenzied Muslim mob pelted stones at the Gurudwara Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, after the religious minority groups protested over the abduction and forced conversion of a Sikh girl in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Nankana Sahib was attacked by Jihadis while devotees were offering prayers inside the Gurudwara. Several Sikh devotees were stuck inside when the mob gathered outside and attacked the Gurudwara, raising ‘Allahu Akbar’ war cry and other communal and hateful slogans against the minority community.
Close on the publication of the UNCSW report in 2019, news from Pakistan suggested that one more Hindu girl has been kidnapped. The girl named Mahek and daughter of Amar Lal Keswani from Karachi has been missing since 13th of December and is most probably kidnapped, says the news. The abductor is alleged to be one Ahishar Memon who is from the same city. Since, no calls have been received for ransom, it was believed that Mahek has been kidnapped for forcible marriage after conversion. Many young Hindu girls are routinely kidnapped in Pakistan.
In October Namrita Chandani, a first-year medical student from Ghotki town in northern Sindh was abducted from Pakistan’s Sindh province and forcibly converted and married. Vidya Maheshwary another Hindu girl has been missing since May 2019. In September another Hindu girl was who was a student of BBA, had left for college on August 29 and did not return home. Media reports said that the girl was forcibly converted to Islam. She was abducted by one of her classmates Babar Aman, along with Mirza Dilawar Baig who is a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). She was forcibly married off to Babar Aman, say local reports.
Apart from Hindu and Sikh girls, Christians too are being abducted, converted and married off. The organised way in which Hindus girls are being abducted and forcibly converted to Islam, points to a well hatched conspiracy by Islamic fundamentalists. But the Pakistan government is not taking any concrete steps to protect the minorities or their girls.
Aayush Pal 
Shobhil Shrivastava 
Dr. Niranjan B Poojar