At least 19 cases of Hindu girls and women being abducted in the first two months of this year have come to light in Pakistan even as courts and the country’s authorities refuse to take forced conversion allegations seriously.
As per media reports and complaints registered, six cases of forced conversion and abduction of women from the minority Hindu community were reported in February. Thirteen girls who were abducted in January are still missing.
“We are living in a very dangerous state. Our daughters are not safe in Sindh. Every day, we hear bad news about the abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls, especially in Sindh,” a member of the Hindu community said on condition of anonymity.
Members of the community also told News18 that they raised the issue with ruling People’s Party of Pakistan Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, but no action has been taken so far.
Among the recent incidents, a Hindu girl named Chanda, resident of Shahdadpur, was converted to Islam and kicked out of the house by her husband in the middle of the night. “I converted to Islam six years ago and married Junaid Ghori, from whom I have a daughter. I am pregnant now too,” she said.
In another case, the father of a minor Hindu girl said his daughter was forcibly taken from him and his wife, and the city court in Karachi has not delivered justice despite deferring hearing to multiple dates.
In a seminar organized by the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs in Islamabad, Faqir Shiva Kachhi from the Pakistan Drawar Alliance presented the case of Hindu minor children along with evidence. He said there are thousands of such cases of conversion but no justice has been done. He demanded that laws for minority rights be implemented.
“Our minors are abducted, forced to convert and forced into marriage. Marriage of a minor boy or girl is a legal offence under the Child Marriage Act, but no one is asking,” he said.
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