Sources claim that a Muslim kidnapper in Lahore, Pakistan, has once again forced a 14-year-old Christian girl into marriage or conversion.
According to Khalid Masih, the butcher Haider Ali abducted Alina Khalid from her home in Islamabad’s Khanna Pul neighborhood.
Masih informed Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that neighbors reported seeing an unidentified girl near their house when Alina disappeared. “When we began searching for her, I came to know that Haider Ali, a 27-year-old butcher in our neighborhood, had planned Alina’s abduction.”
He filed a complaint with Khanna Police that day, but they took no action, he said.
“The FIR [First Information Report] was finally registered late on June 25, giving the accused sufficient time to go into hiding,” Masih said.
As per his statement, the Masih family found out on June 27 that their daughter had been married to Ali after being forced to become Muslim.
“After Alina recorded her statement in court, allegedly claiming that she had changed her faith and married Ali voluntarily, we learned of her conversion and marriage,” Masih stated.
He said the Nikah Nama (Islamic marriage certificate) states that Alina was 19 but lacks her required national identity card number.
Kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and raped under cover of such Islamic “marriages,” and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges regularly ignore documentary evidence related to the children’s ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their “legal” wives.
Masih said his daughter could not have gone with Ali willingly.
“Alina did not have a phone and never went out of the house alone, so I don’t think she had any direct contact with Ali,” he said.
“He has abducted her with the sole aim of exploiting her sexually. Like all other victims, Alina too was forced to do what her abductor said.”
Police have failed to recover Alina and present the suspect in court, he added.
Masih faces a daunting challenge in his struggle to recover her.
“My wife is suffering from Hepatitis C and is also diabetic,” he said. “Her health has deteriorated because of the trauma of Alina’s abduction.
Both of us cannot sleep at night because of the pain of losing our child and the constant thoughts of her suffering in captivity. May God have mercy on us and save our child!”
The chairman of the Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry, Safdar Chaudhry, claimed that the police were not prompt in taking action.
The FIR, as per Chaudhry, was recorded regarding our intervention almost 26 hours after the incident occurred.
“The accused might have been taken into custody if the police had taken prompt action, but their inaction let him get away.”
The social activist demanded changes to the law to prevent minorities’ underage girls from being exploited.
“The police must also realize its responsibility and should stop aiding the perpetrators. The same goes for Pakistani courts, which are granting legal cover to such sham marriages,” he said.
New Bill
To criminalize underage marriages in Punjab province, the Punjab provincial government on April 25 submitted the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2024, in the Punjab Provincial Assembly, which would raise the legal age for marriage for both males and females to 18 years.
The legal age for marriage for girls in Punjab was 16.
Under the proposed bill, anyone who marries a girl or boy under 18 or arranges such a marriage–including parents or guardians—would face two to three years in prison and a fine of between 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US$360) and 200,000 rupees (US$720).
At the time of marriage registration, the marriage solemnizer, secretary of the union council, and marriage registrar check the girl or boy’s Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC), passport, educational certificate, or other documents proving both are at least 18 years old.
Attested copies of these documents must be attached to the marriage certificate application.
Rights activists say that, though raising the legal marriage age to 18 years for both boys and girls will help in preventing child marriages, certain amendments are required to ensure that minority girls also get due coverage of the law. Such amendments would override all “special” laws and maxims related to determining a girl’s age of maturity, they say, including sharia (Islamic law) that allows girls attaining puberty to be considered adults.
A Christian lawmaker appointed as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs and Human Rights praised the government-moved bill but said it did not include any provision related to minority girls who “change their faith” for marriage.
“We are working on an amendment to address this issue, and we hope that all parties in the Punjab Assembly will endorse our stance,” said Ejaz Alam Augustine.
We strive for the same level of protection for both minority girls and Muslim girls.
Augustine, who served as the Minister for Minorities Affairs and Human Rights in Punjab from 2018 to 2022 under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, stated that he had presented a bill in 2021 to prohibit the coerced conversion and forced marriages of minority girls.
The pressure from radical Muslims prevented the bill from being addressed, however.
He told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that now is the best time to pass legislation protecting the girl child regardless of her faith affiliation. There is some hope now.”
Pakistan held its seventh spot on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List, continuing to be one of the most challenging places for Christians, just like the previous year.