First kidnapping, then forced conversion and finally marriage to a middle-aged man. This happens every day to minority girls in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Especially with Indian girls.
Now a similar case has come to light again. In Sindh, a 10-year-old Hindu girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted. After this, she married a middle-aged Muslim man. It was fortunate that he was saved.
Shiva Katchi, president of ‘Pakistan Darawar Ittehad’, an NGO working for minority rights, said a 10-year-old girl was kidnapped last week in front of her house in Kot Ghulam Mohammad village. He was forcibly converted to Islam. She then married an elderly Muslim man. He said the girl was saved with the help of the police.
He said that just a few days ago they kidnapped a 15-year-old Hindu girl. She converted and married a 50-year-old Muslim man. However, the girl has not yet been found. He said that another girl has been missing since last Sunday. The people who kidnapped her had to prepare false marriage and conversion documents to prove that she was 20 years old and had accepted Islam of her own free will.
In June this year, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif admitted that his country’s minorities were being attacked in the name of religion and that his government had failed to protect them. Khawaja Asif had said in Parliament that minorities are killed every day in Pakistan. No religious minority is safe in Pakistan.
Forced conversion of thousands of girls every year
Kidnapping girls belonging to religious minorities, raping them, forcibly changing religion after marrying them, all these are common in Pakistan. The Religious Freedom of America report estimates that each year more than a thousand girls are forcibly converted after marriage.
These incidents of forced marriage and then forced conversion occur mainly among Hindu and Christian girls. Underage girls belonging to these religions are first kidnapped, raped and then married to a man three or four times their age and converted.
Many such examples are given in the US government report, showing the bitter truth of the situation of minorities in Pakistan. An example of this is that of Pooja Kumari, 18 years old. The report stated that in March 2022, Pooja Kumari was kidnapped in Sindh province and then an attempt was made to forcibly marry her. When Pooja protested, they shot her dead.
Similarly, there is an example of a 12-year-old Christian girl. In April 2022, she was kidnapped, then forcibly converted, and then married a 40-year-old man. The court rejected the case of the girl’s parents and said that the girl changed her religion and got married of her own free will.
Why are no measures taken against these people?
A report by the “Center for Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights” states that every year thousands of Hindu girls and 700 Christian girls are forcibly converted in Sindh province. After the conversion they get married.
It has been said in this report that when the girl’s family files an FIR, in return the kidnappers also file a cross FIR and claim that the girl had accepted Islam of her own free will. In most cases, the girl remains with the kidnappers until the case continues in court. In the end, these people prove, by showing false documents, that all this happened with the girl’s will and the court dismisses the case.
This report states that cases of abduction, conversion and forced marriage of minor girls belonging to minority religions are continuously increasing. The report says that when a case of kidnapping and rape of a girl becomes serious, the accused forcibly marry her.
This entire game is done in a very organized way. Minorities are forcibly converted to Islam by luring them with money and houses.
Former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Zohra Yusuf, said in an interview that in Sindh province, girls are kidnapped, converted and forcibly married to Muslim men. She says that when she seeks help in court, the debate revolves around whether the girl is an adult or not. In most cases, justice is not served, but even if justice is served in some cases, they cannot recover from the atrocities committed against them.
A United Nations report also expressed concern about the situation of minorities in Sindh province. In this report, a statement was also taken from the brother of a peer who was forced to convert. On this, Pir’s brother proudly says that we have converted so many Hindus into Muslims that they cannot even be counted.
Shops and slaughterhouses open in temples
In 2014, the Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement conducted a survey. In this survey, it was stated that at the time of partition, there were 428 temples in Pakistan, but after 1990s, toy shops, restaurants, hotels, offices, public schools or madrasas were opened in 408 of these temples.
It was also revealed in this survey that the Government of Pakistan handed over on lease 1.35 lakh acres of land containing places of worship of minorities to the Evacuee Trust Property Board. The job of this trust is to take possession of the lands of the displaced. In the survey it was stated that this land belonged to 40 lakh Hindus.
According to the survey, there was a Kali Bari temple in Pakistan, which was bought by a person named Dera Ismail Khan and the Taj Mahal hotel was built there. Not only this, Dera Ismail Khan also took care of a cremation ground with the help of the Trust.
Similarly, there was a Hindu temple in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and now there is a sweet shop there. There was a Shiva temple in Kohat, which has now been converted into a public school. A historic Hindu temple in Peshawar has now been converted into a public school for girls. There is now a clothing store in a Gurudwara in Abbottabad.
A United Nations report states that there are more than 350 temples and gurudwaras in Pakistan occupied by Muslims. Slaughterhouses and shops have been opened in these temples and Gurudwaras.
In 2019, the Pakistani government also admitted that 400 temples were vandalized or occupied. The government had promised that 400 temples would be restored and the rights to them returned to Hindus.
What is the minority population in Pakistan?
After partition, when the census was conducted in 1951, it came to light that there were more than 97 lakh Hindus and around five and a half lakh Christians in Pakistan. At that time there was no data on the population of Sikhs.
The last census was conducted in Pakistan in 2017. According to this, the population here is 20.76 crore, of which more than 20 crore are Muslims. There are around 36 lakh Hindus and 95 per cent of them live in Sindh province. There are 26 lakh Christians.
