Forced Conversion in Pakistan
Voice for Justice
Forced Conversion of Christian girls in Pakistan
Forced conversion into Islam is extremely rising in Pakistan. Voice for Justice raise voice against forced conversion and forced marriages of minor girls of religious minorities in Pakistan. As our Pakistani young minor Christian and Hindu girls are forcefully converted into Islam and forced to marriage with the Muslim men under the Islamic traditions. October 10, 2019, a Pakistani Christian teenager who was kidnapped and forced into an Islamic marriage is now pregnant and confined to one room by her abuser, an attorney representing her family has said.Tabassum Yousaf, a lawyer representing the parents of 15-year-old Huma Younus, told the Catholic charity Aid to the ´´Church in Need International´´ that the teenager informed her parents by phone that she is pregnant after being repeatedly raped by the man who abducted her.
“Asked by her father if she could leave her abductor’s house and return to her parents’ home, she told him that she is not allowed to leave the house and that her life has become still more difficult,” Yousaf explained. “She is now imprisoned within the walls of one room.”Younus was taken from her home on Oct. 10, 2019, at the age of 14, and later forcibly married to a radical Muslim man named Abdul Jabbar. She was also forced to “convert” to Islam.
Younus’ parents have declared the marriage between their daughter and her captor to be invalid because she’s not of legal age to consent to the marriage (which is 18) under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act.According to Yousaf, Jabbar’s brother, Mukhtiar, is a member of the Pakistani security forces’ Rangers branch and has threatened to kill the teenager’s parents if they intervene.“This man has contacted Huma’s parents via video telephone calls and threatened them directly, showing them his weapons and telling them he would kill them if ever they should come looking for their daughter,” Yousaf said. “This same man, Mukhtiar, has added in audio messages that even if all the Christians should band together to bring Huma back, he would kill both her parents and anyone who tried to help them.”
According to the pontifical foundation, the family’s case had previously been closed by the Third Judicial Magistrate for Karachi East on the grounds of a lack of proof even though the family submitted a sworn statement from Huma’s school and a baptism certificate from St. James Church in Karachi showing the child’s date of birth was in May 2005. There is no law against conversion in Pakistan although the numbers of conversion cases are increasing every day. The courts always showed their biased attitude if a minor Christian girl contracted marriage under the Sharia Law and always kept aside the child marriage restrain act where the age of a girl for marriage is determined as 16. The government of Pakistan has failed to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan. Due to the fear of the death threats from the radical Muslims many Christian and Hindu families convert to Islam. Many people keep silent because the government of Pakistan can not protect them in Pakistan. Most of the time the judicial system and government and including politicians ignore Christians and other religious minorities all the time at all levels. The situation is getting worst for Christians as a minority.
“We demand that the government of Pakistan should step forward and suitable laws against forced conversion in Pakistan. Law should be framed against forced conversion of minor girls of religious minorities Child Marriage Restrained Act should be applied Courts should decide rapidly on cases where minors are abducted and forcefully converted and ensure that girls are brought back into the custody of their parents. Conversion certificates by religious leaders or clerics should be banned under the age of 18. Voice for Justice will raise voice for this serious issue and will keep raising voice for those who are brutally victim of forced conversion”.