A 12-year-old Christian girl’s married 35-year-old Muslim neighbor accuses her of her and takes her to another state where he forces her to convert to Islam, and with her Her father said he was married.
Sabah Shafik was accused of Muhammad Ali from outside his home in the second district of Walton Model Colony in Lahore Cantonment, Lahore, Punjab, on January 5th, his father Shafik Masi said. . Ali took her to Shaheed Benajrabad city, known as Nawabsha in Sindh, he said.
Masi, a Catholic who works as a painter after resigning from the Pakistan Army, said Ali prepared a fake marriage certificate on January 8, stating that Sabah was 18 years old, but her birth certificate He said he was born on May 16, 2012 and created it. Her 12 years and 9 months.
“The physical appearance of the mackerel does not match the age mentioned in the marriage and Islamic conversion certificate,” Masi told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “Anyone who promoted this false conversion and marriage should be punished equally with Ali.”
Factory Regional Police intentionally stated in the first information report (FIR) that Sabah’s age was 15 to 16 years old, but Masi emphasized his 12 years and 9 months old in his complaint, he said. Ta.
“The police deliberately misaligned Sabah’s age, but when I protested, they told me that it would help me strengthen my case,” he said. “My lawyer, Rana Irfan, has submitted an application to modify his age according to his birth certificate.”
He lamented that more than a month had passed since his daughter’s abortion, but police had not made any efforts to recover.
“The police told me they needed official permission to go to Sindh to retrieve the Sabah, but three weeks have passed and there has been no progress in the matter,” he said. “I appeal to visit the police station every day to act, but now they don’t seem serious about finding my underage daughter.”
Masi added that Ali also filed a petition to the Hyderabad Session Court on behalf of Sabah, seeking legal protection for so-called marriage. This move is a common tactic used by perpetrators to prevent the victim’s family from retrieving their daughter.
“I am sure when Maba is saved from Ali’s illegal custody, she will tell the truth about her abduction,” Masi said. “She is an innocent child and is forced to make a statement in favour of the defendant under obsession.”
Ejaz Augustine, a Christian parliament member of Punjab Assembly, has expressed concern about cases of increased acquiring of underage Christian girls in Punjab.
“The forced conversion and marriage of minor girls is a serious crisis for the Christian community,” Augustine said. “The bill criminalizing child marriages has been pending in the Punjab Parliament since April 2024, but it is very unfortunate that despite repeated demands for its passage, there has been no movement in this regard.”
Augustine said four Christian lawmakers in the state legislature are also trying to bring laws against forced conversions for minority girls. But the former Minister of Human Rights said the excessive delay in passing the anti-child marriage law showed that the elements were opposed to it behind the scenes.
“These vested interests are blocking federal laws in 2021, seeking criminalization of forced conversions, and they now want to stop Punjab from raising the legal age of both boys and girls’ marriages. “We’re active again at,” he told Christian Daily International Morning. Star News. “The state government must prevent fraudulent design of such groups by passing the bill as soon as possible.”
Bishop Azad Marshall, the presiding member of the Church of Pakistan, also called for the enactment and enforcement of the Child Marriage Act.
“Rating the minimum age for marriage to 18 is a safeguard against child marriage and forced conversion,” he said. “There is no reason why the government should put aside the bill, as it could help the government to curb the acquiescence and forced conversion of Christian girls.”
Church leaders have repeatedly urged the government to take critical action on these criminal practices and ensure justice for the victims, he added.
Usually, a Pakistani tempted girl is also accused of young people as young as 10 years old, converted to Islam, raped under a hidden gem of Islamic “marriage” and makes false statements in favour of the temptation. You will be pressured to record it, rights advocates say. The judge routinely ignores documentary evidence related to the age of a child and returns the temptation to the temptation as a “legal wife.”
According to the Center for Social Justice, recorded cases of adduction and coercion were 136 in 2023, the highest annual total ever. Among these, 110 Hindu girls were accused in Sindh and 26 Christian girls were accused in Punjab. The majority of cases occurred in Sindh, where 77% of women accused were minors under the age of 18, according to the Centre.
Unofficial sources suggest that forced religious converts associated with forced marriages affect as many as 1,000 girls in religious minorities each year.
Pakistan ranked seventh on the 2024 World Watchlist, the most difficult place to become a Christian, like last year.
