The tiny community of Hindus and Christians continues to live in fear as incidents of forced conversions of under-aged girls are on the rise in Pakistan, especially in Sindh.
Human rights activists are concerned that forced conversions and marriages take place under threat and violence in Pakistan.
In March 2022, 18-year-old Hindu girl Pooja Kumari was killed for resisting abduction, forced marriage and conversion of religion in Sindh’s Sukkur district.
Six months later, in September 2022, 14-year-old girl Chanda Maharaj was abducted, raped and converted to Islam. The FIR was registered after the court intervened. Later, the police recovered her and performed a medical test to determine her age. She was found to be a minor, and was sent to Dar-ul-Aman.
In December 2022, in Sindh’s Umerkot district, a Hindu man named Laloo Kachhi was beaten up by a Muslim mob as he tried to resist abductors of his sister, Laali. Kachhi succumbed to his wounds in the hospital later.
Abduction, rape and forced conversions are routinely reported from Sindh and Punjab. A recent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report, titled A Breach of Faith: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2021-22, states that in 2021, around 60 cases of forced conversion were reported in the local media, of which 70 percent were girls under the age of 18.
The HRCP reported 21 cases of alleged forced conversion from Sindh in 2022. The commission observed forced conversions occur disproportionately among young (even underage) girls from low-income families in the Hindu and Christian communities, their vulnerability compounded by their gender and class. “The bulk of forced conversions occur in Punjab and Sindh, which account for a larger population of Hindu and Christian households. Many such cases follow a similar pattern — a minor girl from either the Hindu or Christian community is abducted and coerced into converting to Islam, often followed by a marriage sans consent to her assailant or captor,” the report states.
Faqir Shiva Kachhi, a minority right activist, says more than 500 cases of abduction and forced conversions were reported in 2022. “We have records of all the cases, with FIR copies and other evidences.”
In Chanda Maharaj abduction case, Kachhi adds, the police did not register a ‘missing’ complaint on time. In fact, to convince the police to file a complaint her case, we had to stage a demonstration. “In many cases, the police do not cooperate with the victim’s families,” he adds.
There is no law regarding forced conversions and protection of minorities. Not even on the implementation of child marriage act. “There is dual judiciary system for minority and majority. When a Muslim under-aged girl can get permission from the court to go with her parent then why can’t a Hindu minor girl go with her parents? Why are they sent to Dar-ul-Aman”? he questions.
In October 2021, the federal parliamentary committee scrapped a proposed bill that would have criminalised forced conversions by proposing up to 10 years of imprisonment. In 2016, the Sindh province passed a law declaring forced conversion a punishable offence carrying a life sentence, but the province’s governor refused to ratify the legislation.
The Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013 prohibits the marriage of any child under the age of 18 years and penalises the person who solemnises the marriage as well as parents or guardians concerned. But, legal experts say, due to negligence of the government, this act has not been implemented properly and child marriage cases are increasing day-by-day.
Human rights experts expressed alarm in January this year at the rise in abductions of girls as young as 13 in Pakistan, who are forced to marry and convert to Islam. They urge the government to take “immediate steps” to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. “Perpetrators must be held fully accountable,” reports UN News.
The group of nearly a dozen independent experts and special rapporteurs maintained that Pakistan’s courts enable the perpetrators by accepting “fraudulent evidence” from them, regarding the age of the victims and their willingness to marry and convert to Islam.
Investigations carried out by experts reveal that girls and women or their families are threatened with violence for such marriages and religious conversions. Though Pakistan has made laws to prohibit forced conversion and protect religious minorities, the lack of access to justice for victims and their families remains a barrier.
According to reports, these so-called marriages and conversions also involve religious authorities, security forces and the justice system, whereby the police rarely pay attention to complaints of the victims and either refuse to file a report or term the cases as ‘love marriages’.
The rising cases of forced conversions should sound alarm bells for concerned authorities in the country. They must commit themselves to protect the vulnerable communities and ensure interfaith harmony.
Rana Malhi is a Karachi-based independent multimedia journalist. He tweets @RanaMalhiRM
Courtesy: The Friday Times, Lahore, Pakistan
