100 Christian Women, Girls Abducted In Pakistan
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – At least some 100 Christian women and girls have been abducted and forced to marry and “convert” to Islam in Pakistan from January 2019 to October 2022, according to a new human rights report.
The report “Conversion without Consent,” released by advocacy groups Voice for Justice (VFJ) and Jubilee Campaign, said most cases, some 86, were reported in Punjab province.
There were also 11 such cases in Sindh province, two in Islamabad, the capital, and one in the area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the report said. No case was reported in Balochistan province.
The report also includes the abductions of four underage girls who became victims of forced faith conversions.
One of them reportedly told the court that she was “heavily drugged, raped, beaten with a stick, burnt with cigarettes, and electrocuted” by her abductors.
Another girl testified that she was “abducted and raped, and the perpetrator took her thumb impression on the marriage certificate.”
CONVERT THREATENED
She was then “forced to convert and threatened with dire consequences” if she “revealed the assault to anyone.”
Worthy News chose not to publish names amid concerns about their security in the Islamic nation where Christians have been killed for their faith after alleged “blasphemy.”
While most victims were minors, investigators said their age was altered to 18 years or above by perpetrators on marriage certificates to avoid prosecution.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 says marrying an underage child is illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
The report concluded that child brides are likely to drop out of school or from work while suffering poor health.
They have virtually no decision-making power within the family, investigators stressed.
AUTHORITIES PRESSURED
The advocacy groups releasing the report urged authorities to end the practice by taking “affirmative action for the protection, promotion, and fulfillment of minority rights.”
They also want the current civil and criminal justice systems to be more sensitive to the needs of victims of forced conversions and their families.
Additionally, Pakistan should ensure that the observance of a state religion neither impairs the enjoyment of any human rights or any minority religion, they said.
Minority Christians and others shouldn’t suffer “discrimination in law, policy, and jurisprudence against those who profess a faith or set of beliefs contrary to the majority religion.”
As many as thousands of Christians are believed to have fled Pakistan in recent years.
Many arrive in Thailand, where they face detention by security forces, Worthy News established.