08/08/2021 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – According to Asia News, another Christian girl in Pakistan has been abducted and forcefully converted to Islam. The incident has come to light thanks to the work of a local human rights defender.
On July 28, Gulzar Masih went to pick up his 14-year-old daughter, Chashman, from school in Faisalabad. When Masih discovered is daughter was missing, he immediately reported the disappearance to local police.
Days later, Masih received a video along with several documents claiming Chashman had run away and converted to Islam of her own free will. Masih, who drives a rickshaw to support his family, attempted to work with police to have his daughter returned, but did not receive much help.
The incident was then brought to light by Robin Daniel, a human rights activist from Faisalabad.
“The Punjab authorities should play their role in clearing the children who are kidnapped,” Daniel told Asia News. “As long as these kidnappings continue undisturbed, all underage girls and their families feel insecure.”
According to a 2014 study by The Movement for Solidarity and Peace Pakistan, an estimated 1,000 women and girls from Pakistan’s Hindu and Christian community are abducted, forcefully married to their captor, and forcibly converted to Islam every year. The issue of religion is also often injected into cases of sexual assault to place religious minority victims at a disadvantage. Playing upon religious biases, perpetrators know they can cover up and justify their crimes by introducing the element of religion.
