ACN sponsors project to protect Christian girls in Pakistan
The abduction and forced marriage of Christian girls is a growing issue in Pakistan. ACN has sponsored a project with the Pakistani Bishops Conference’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to advocate and provide protection for vulnerable Christian girls.
By ACN Staff
Arzoo Raja, a 13-year-old Catholic girl who was kidnapped in October 2020 and placed in a forced marriage.
The kidnapping of girls from religious minorities in Pakistan is a huge issue. After being kidnapped, these teenage girls are forced to convert to Islam and marry one of their kidnappers. The issue is only getting worse. Pakistan’s Movement for Solidarity and Peace believes annually around 1,000 Hindu and Christian women and girls in Pakistan were kidnapped and forced into marriages. It is believed by some that in 2020 this number doubled to around 2,000 cases.
Huma Younus, a Catholic girl who was abducted in October 2019 aged 14. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
By forcing the girls to convert to Islam, the kidnappers make the return of the girls to their families far less likely. It is unlikely for many courts in Pakistan to allow a girl who has legally converted to Islam to return to her family out of fear she will revert to her actual religion. If the family involved takes the case to court, they face several legal hurdles. They must be represented by a Muslim lawyer and the cases are held under Islamic law, which Pakistan’s Christians and Hindus are unfamiliar with.
Even if the girl manages to return to her family, the girl and her family are at risk of retribution, as the girl will be regarded by many fundamentalists as an apostate from Islam. This was the case with Maira Shahbaz, who managed to escape back to her family after being forcible married and made to convert to Islam. Maira and her family now live-in fear of retribution. Aid to the Church in Need UK has handed in a petition to the British Government to grant Maira asylum.
Seeing as how acute this problem is, Pakistan’s national Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) will start campaigning for greater protections and safeguarding measures for girls from religious minorities, including Christian girls. CCJP is receiving support and aid from the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) with this project. The director of CCJP, Fr. Emmanuel (Mani) Yousaf, spoke about the seriousness of kidnappings and forced marriages in Pakistan:
“One of the most noted challenges has been the recent rise in cases of abduction, forced marriage and forcible conversion. This phenomena, though not new, has catalysed during the recent past, due to the lack of adequate laws and the absence of implementation of existing safeguards to protect the young minor girls and women from the religious minority community.”
Samra Munir (13-years-old), a Catholic girl kidnapped in September 2019. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
The 2014 Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act and other similar legislation was supposed to try tackle the issue of abductions and forced marriages. The Child Marriage Restraint Act raises the legal age of marriage to 18-years-old, an attempt to make marriage of abducted teenage girls illegal. This act has been ignored by many Pakistani courts who rule using Islamic legal principles if the girl has been forced to convert to Islam. Marriages have been ruled as legal by Pakistani courts if the girl has “converted” to Islam and has entered puberty. This is an example of some the issues in Pakistan. There are Pakistani politicians who are trying to improve the situation for Christians and other religious minorities in the country, but they are often thwarted by other politicians and also the courts.
The CCJP plans on consulting and contacting politicians and other representatives to raise awareness of the issue of abductions and forced marriages, and will advocate for solutions. Fr. Yousaf details some of the work already done:
“We at CCJP have been documenting and monitoring the incidents of abductions, forced marriage and conversion which have been found to be occurring with Hindu and Christian minor girls and also adult women. The surrounding pressure in courts from extremist groups, the biased attitude of police, the fear of harm from the abductor, and stigma associated force the victim to often give a statement in favour of her abductor. CCJP believes that in order to initiate and effect change, there is a need to engage both nationally and internationally to raise a voice, demand that the state takes adequate action on the said issue and also mobilise a public appeal for legislation.”
Please pray for the work of ACN and the CCJP in Pakistan, that we may secure the rights and protections for Christian girls in Pakistan. If you would like to help ACN in our work in countries like Pakistan, please consider making a donation.