Forced conversion of minority girls in Pakistan

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Protest against forced conversion of Hindu girls conducted by Pakistan Hindu Council

In Pakistan, there have been allegations that underage girls belonging to the minority Hindu, Christian[1] and Sikh community are kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam and forcibly married and subjected to rape.[2] According to human rights organisations hundreds of Hindu, Sikh, Christian girls are abducted and converted every year. The National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP) said that the number of abduction of Christian girls are increasing every year.[3] Alleged forced conversions of girls belonging to the Kalash community were also reported in media.[4] Most of the targets are Hindu and Christian girls from lower Castes and poor families.[5] Such cases of forced conversions are being reported increasingly in the Southern Sindh districts of Tharparkar, Umerkot and Mirpur Khas[6] and in the South Punjab, particularly the Rahim Yar Khan District and adjacent areas.[7] Some of these victims are allegedly as young as 12 years old.[8]

Forbes reported that the Human rights organizations estimates that every year 1,000 such girls are forcibly converted to Islam. This estimate could be even higher than 1,000 as many cases remain unreported.[9] The 2020 US media report also estimates the number of forcibly converted girls to be around 1,000 per year. However the Pakistan government rejected it and termed the report as "rubbish and baseless".[10] The Catholic news site Aleteia reported that in 2020, the number of forced conversion cases rose to more than 2000.[11]

According to the Pakistan's 2017 Universal Periodic Review to the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), an average 20 of Hindu girls are abducted every month in Pakistan, converted by force to Islam, and then married off to their abductors.[12]

Reasons[]

According to the Child Protection activists, these forced conversions money-making network which involves Islamic clerics who solemnize the marriages, magistrates who legalize the unions and corrupt local police who aid the culprits by refusing to investigate or sabotaging investigations. According to the Child Protection activist Jibran Nasir, these forced conversions are part of a mafia that preys on vulnerable minority girls for older men with pedophilia urges.[2] The Pakistan Muslim League politician Haresh Chopra has stated that abduction and forced conversion of Hindus and Sikhs girls is a business in Pakistan done by organized gangs of mullahs and terrorists.[13]

The culprit involved in forcibly converting a non-Muslim girl to Islam believe that they will earn a place in heaven, according to the Amarnath Motumal, vice chairperson of the Sindh Chapter of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission. Pakistan doesn't have stronger legislation to prevent forced conversions and due to this these forced conversions go unabated.[14]

Islamic institutions and clerics like Abdul Haq (Mitthu Mian) (politician and caretaker of Bharchundi Shareef Dargah) and Pir Ayub Jan Sirhindi (caretaker of Dargah pir sarhandi) are alleged involved in these forced conversions and are known to have support from the ruling political parties of Sindh.[15][16][17][18]

Some conversions are forced while some conversions are due to discrimination of poor Hindus in jobs, government facilities and conversion to Islam is seen as a way to avoid religious discrimination and violence.[19]

Consequences[]

A survey conducted by the Pakistan Hindu Seva welfare Trust found that majority of the scheduled caste Hindu families doesn't send their girl children to schools due to the fear of forced conversion.[20] According to the, Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, member of National Assembly of Pakistan, around 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Pakistan to India every year and the forced conversions are one of the major reasons behind this.[21] According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, forced conversions is the foremost reason for the declining population of Hindus in Pakistan.[22] The "Religious Minorities in Pakistan" report compiled by Members of the European Parliament and published in 2019 attributes forced conversions as a major reason for declining minority population in Pakistan.[23] Hindus in Sindh live in fear, due to forced marraige of Hindu girls to Muslim men.[24] Many Pakistani Hindus migrate to India due to forced conversions.[25]

Legal responses[]

Dalit Sujag Tehreek protesting against forced Conversion of Scheduled Caste Hindu girls

Pakistan doesn't have stronger legislation to prevent forced conversions and due to this these forced conversions go unabated.[14]

In November 2016, a bill against forced conversion was passed unanimously by the Sindh Provisional Assembly. However, the bill failed to make it into law as the Governor returned the bill. The Bill was effectively blocked by the Islamist groups and parties like the Council of Islamic Ideology and Jamaat-e-Islami.[26] In 2019, a bill against forced conversion was proposed by Hindu politicians in the Sindh assembly, but was turned down by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party lawmakers.[27] In 2020 "Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill" was introduced in the Senate of Pakistan that could prevent forced conversions of minority girls, but it was turned down by the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony chaired by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri. The Krishna Kumari Kolhi, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator, walked out of the Senate during the meeting as a form of protest.[28]

Response[]

Protest against forced conversion of Christian girls in Pakistan organised by NCJP

The Pakistani Nobel Laurette Malala Yousafzai spoke against forced conversions in Pakistan and said "It should be a personal choice and no one, especially a child shouldn’t be forced to accept any faith or convert to any other religion out of the will,"[29] The Pakistani Prime minister Imran Khan has said that forced conversions are 'un-Islamic'[30] and are against the commands of Allah.[31] The Deputy Leader of Conservative Party of Canada Candice Bergen has said that "The reports coming out of Pakistan of Christian and Hindu girls being abducted, raped, forced into marriages and coerced to convert from their faith are deeply concerning and need to be addressed". She also called for the re-establishment of Office of Religious Freedom in Canada to address the issue.[32]

Pakistan has no law to stop forced conversion.[33] The Pakistani minority groups protested when Pakistani parliamentary committee rejected the anti forced conversion bill.[34]

The All Pakistan Hindu Panchayat (APHP) general secretary, who in an interview with The Times of India said the "majority of cases of marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men were result of love affairs. He claimed that due to honor, the family members of women concoct stories of abduction and forced conversions". While the general secretary admitted that there were incidents of abductions and forced conversions of Hindu girls, he clarified that those incidents are not in large numbers.[35]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Stories of forced conversion to Islam in Pakistan". BBC.
  2. ^ a b KATHY GANNON (28 December 2020). "Each year, 1,000 Pakistani girls forcibly converted to Islam". abc news. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Abducted, shackled and forced to marry at 12". BBC.
  4. ^ "Express Tribune". Clash in Chitral over Kalash girl’s ‘forced’ conversion to Islam. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  5. ^ Siobhan Heanue (26 July 2019). "Hindu sisters Reena and Raveena become face of forced religious conversion in Pakistan". ABC news. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  6. ^ Quratulain, Fatima (19 September 2017), "Forced conversions of Pakistani Hindu girls", Daily Times (Pakistan), retrieved 13 February 2021
  7. ^ Zahid Gishkori (3 September 2012). "Intolerance growing in South Punjab: Report". Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  8. ^ Kunwar Khuldune Shahid (11 January 2020). "Pakistan's forced conversions shame Imran Khan". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  9. ^ Ewelina U. Ochab (5 February 2021). "Girl Kidnapped, Raped And Chained Up By Her Abductor In Pakistan". Forbes. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  10. ^ Islamuddin Sajid (29 January 2020). "Pakistan rejects US media report on forced conversion". Anadolu Post. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  11. ^ "The Pakistani government takes step to end anti-Christian discrimination". Aleteia. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Forced to marry". Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Abduction of Hindus, Sikhs have become a business in Pak: PML MP". Times of India. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Pakistani court allows Hindu girls to decide their own fate". DW news. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  15. ^ Javaid, Maham (18 August 2016). "State of fear". Herald (Pakistan). Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  16. ^ Quratulain, Fatima (19 September 2017), "Forced conversions of Pakistani Hindu girls", Daily Times (Pakistan), retrieved 13 February 2021
  17. ^ Daur, Naya (16 September 2019), "Who Is Mian Mithu?", Naya Daur Media (NDM), Pakistan, retrieved 12 June 2020
  18. ^ Javaid, Maham (18 August 2014), "Forced conversions torment Pakistan's Hindus", Al Jazeera, retrieved 13 February 2021
  19. ^ "Poor and Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam to Get By". The New York Times.
  20. ^ Yudhvir Rana (4 June 2013). "Hindu parents don't send girl children to schools in Pakistan: Report". Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  21. ^ Haider, Irfan (13 May 2014). "5,000 Hindus migrating to India every year, NA told". Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  22. ^ Quratulain, Fatima (19 September 2017), "Forced conversions of Pakistani Hindu girls", Daily Times (Pakistan), retrieved 13 February 2021
  23. ^ Cirio, Alberto; Martusciello, Fulvio; Czarnecki, Ryszard; Tarand, Indrek; Becker, Heinz K. 'Religious Minorities in Pakistan' compiled by Members of European Parliament (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Forced conversions torment Pakistan's Hindus". Al Jazeera English.
  25. ^ "Waves of Hindus trade Pakistan for India".
  26. ^ Ackerman, Reuben; Rehman, Javaid; Johns, Morris, Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan (PDF), CIFORB, the University of Birmingham, retrieved 13 February 2021
  27. ^ Tunio, Hafeez (9 October 2019), "PPP lawmakers turn down bill against forced conversions", The Express Tribune, retrieved 13 February 2021
  28. ^ "Senate panel 'turns down' bill on minorities rights". The Tribune. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  29. ^ "I strongly condemn any incident where girls are forced to get married: Malala". Daily Times. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  30. ^ "Forced conversions are 'un-Islamic', says Imran Khan". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  31. ^ "Forced conversions are against the commands of Allah: Imran". SAMAA. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  32. ^ Zeenya Shah. "Attacks on minority women in Pakistan spark calls to reopen Office of Religious Freedoms closed by Liberals". National post. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  33. ^ "Hindu Today, Muslim Tomorrow". The Atlantic.
  34. ^ "Parliamentary panel rejects anti-forced conversion bill amid protest by minorities' lawmakers". Dawn.
  35. ^ Rana, Yudhvir (30 January 2020). "Most marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men result of love affairs, not abduction, says All Pakistan Hindu Panchayat". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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