The All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into ‘Abduction, Forced Marriage, and Forced Conversion of Girls and Young Women in Pakistan’ has issued a call for evidence and the deadline is February 15th 2021. This inquiry is to be led by Lord Alton who has raised this issue a number of times before. Primarily within the context of Christian women and girls being forcefully converted to Islam in countries like Pakistan.
The issue is of course not just related to Christians only, it affects all non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. The trade in harvesting the souls of ‘kaffirs’ is rampant in Pakistan. And all of this happens in full public view of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Government of Pakistan, the judiciary of Pakistan, the Human Rights Organisations in Pakistan, the NGO’s in Pakistan, the Mullahs and Islamic leaders in Pakistan, the Pakistani media and of course the people of Pakistan. This is a national crime committed by the people of Pakistan. Their silence will never be forgiven, even by their own God.
A few weeks back I wrote an article titled, ‘Persecution of Minorities in Pakistan’, and flagged up many issues as well as commending the leading national Hindu organisations for writing an open letter on it to our Prime Minister seeking a full-blown inquiry. I now hope that each and every Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist organisation in the UK will write to Lord Alton and give evidence on how their respective communities have been decimated by the evil of abduction, forced marriage, and forced conversion of girls and young women in Pakistan.
Even a Member of the Pakistani Parliament of Pakistan has stated, ‘At the time of partition in 1947, almost 23 percent of Pakistan’s population was comprised of non-Muslim citizens. Today, the proportion of non-Muslims has declined to approximately 3 percent.’ Need I say anymore?
In the case of Arzoo Raja, who was abducted last year from a street near her home in Karachi, forced to convert to Islam and marry the abductor, a 43-year-old Muslim man, Lord Alton asked, “How can a 13 year old child who does not understand her own religion, decide in a couple of days to comprehensively understand Islam and convert overnight?”
Pakistan’s ‘Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929’ states that the minimum marriageable age in Pakistan is 16 and the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 stipulates that any party to marriage must be at least 18 years of age in Sindh. However, the court and the judge in question ignored their own laws! Pakistan is a terrorist state, controlled by extremists, not just Islamic but military as well. PM Imran Khan is the face of this brutal country that thrives in openly
violating the human rights of its minorities.
A report by the University of Birmingham titled, ‘Forced Conversions & Forced Marriages in Sindh, Pakistan’ said, ‘Pakistan is failing to fulfil their obligations under these international treaties to protect the rights of vulnerable minorities from forced conversions and forced marriages.’ At least 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam annually according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Many of these girls belong to the Hindu community in Sindh. In my view, this is just the tip of this national shame.
I call upon every Pakistani organisation in the UK to state openly, that such practices are abhorrent and have no place in any civilised society. It’s time to find out whether they are on the side of the victims, or with the perpetrators of this
heinous crime. Let’s see who takes up this challenge?
