Pakistan: Rising cases of Kidnapping of Christian Girls
The Forced Conversion of Christian Girls in Pakistan to Islam
A 13-year-old #Christian girl named Benish Anwar was abducted from Kotli Bahram in Sialkot – Pakistan. The young girl was kidnapped, tortured and forcibly converted to #Islam and married off to her abductor.
Minorities are not safe in Pakistan.
These Muslim religious leaders are so powerful that despite their illegal activities, the police are afraid to register a case against these leaders and these leaders considers it their proudest achievement. The police registered the FIR but later dismissed it, the police’s friendly attitude towards the suspects who kidnap Christian girls and forcibly convert them to Islam encourages more such incidents.
In 2023, two cities in Pakistan, Faisalabad and Sargodha, were also became victims of religious extremism, religious fanaticism is heading towards its peak in Pakistan in the first five months of 2024. From January to May, six Christian girls faced forced marriage and conversion to Islam. Four underage Christian girls were kidnapped and converted into forced marriages.
Under Pakistani law, Marriage Act 2015 and Amendment Bill 2024, this is a clearly punishable crime, but no cases have been registered against the suspects and their enablers yet, which shows that the police are being held hostage by religious fanatics and are reluctant to arrest such suspects under their pressure.
“The safety and well-being of every individual, especially minors, should be non-negotiable. We call upon authorities to prioritize the protection of these girls and to swiftly implement measures that prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future. Every child deserves to grow up in an environment where their rights and freedoms are respected, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure this fundamental human right is upheld.”