Pakistan columnist Sulema Jahangir in her article “Forced Conversions” for Pakistan daily, Dawn dated April 12, 2020, provides an incisive analysis of forced conversions of minority girls in Pakistan. The writer as a board member, AGHS Legal Aid Cell, and advocate of the High Courts, Pakistan, and a solicitor of the senior courts of England and Wales has an insider and credible view of the happenings.

“Over the years, the laws applicable to the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan have shifted from being neutral to blatantly discriminatory-from electoral laws, family laws, law on evidence, Hudood laws, redistribution of income through Zakat and Ushr, trust and evacuee property laws, domicile and nationality, to offences against religion”, she writes. “The discrimination against women belonging to religious minority groups is worse; they become victims of rape, abduction, forced marriage and forced conversion. That it is largely underage girls who are ‘converting’ to Islam speaks volumes of the vulnerability of the converts, and the motivation of those behind the conversion”, she adds further.

The Sindh government attempted to outlaw forced conversions and marriages, lay guidelines for the court process in the Protection of Minorities Bill, placed an age limit of 18 years upon conversions and better due process. In 2016, the bill was unanimously passed by the Sindh Assembly, but fell due to strident opposition from the religious parties.

In 2019, a revised version was introduced, but protest resumed again. The central characters in many cases of forced conversions of underage Hindu girls in Sindh claim the girls are not forced, but fall in love with Muslim men and convert willingly. In March 2019, 2,000 Hindus staged a sit-in to demand justice for two sisters, Reena and Raveena, who were forcibly converted and married. The Islamabad High Court ruled the girls had willingly converted and married the men. Influential men prey upon vulnerable young women and entice them to convert and marry. The law does not differentiate coercion from peaceful persuasion, or enticement without the threat of violence.

Why are underage girls ‘converting’? Pakistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees the right to freedom of religion and the right to change one’s religion and that no one shall be coerced to change their religion. The European Court of Human Rights has provided guidance regarding the distinction between permissible religious persuasion and coercion. Exploiting a position of power to entice vulnerable people/subordinates to convert is coercion and must be outlawed. Pakistan legal system is discriminatory towards women from religious minorities. The clout and resources of those preying upon them indicate coercion. Positive legislation is needed to safeguard vulnerable citizens.

The vulnerability of the minority communities in general and minority girls in particular has further been augmented with the outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19. The Pakistani authorities could take advantage of the situation to accelerate their discriminatory practices against the people belonging to the vulnerable minority sections as witnessed in the recent cases of denial of food and emergency supplies to people of Hindu and Christian communities. The pretext of COVID-19 could provide an opportunity for those stationed at power position to threaten the lives of the monority’s girls forcing them to resort to conversion as a means to save their lives in the time of crisis. A women, once converted, can’t go back, as apostasy implies death sentence. Women are prohibited from meeting their families, or the ‘kafirs,’ hence access to justice is denied and they remain in the clutches of powerful men. Nothing is heard of these women thereafter. Why should underage girls suddenly decide to marry men having wives and children?

The Peoples Commission for Minorities’ Rights and the Centre for Social Justice compiled the data of 156 incidents of forced conversions between 2013 and 2019. A vast majority were minor girls as young as 12 years. Religious groups oppose a minimum age for conversion or marriage on the basis that this is not sanctioned by Islam. Sindh having outlawed the marriage of girls under 18, underage girls are taken to Punjab for marriage. Sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16 is statutory rape and carries a death sentence, or a minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. There is no defence but abductors produce a conversion certificate and a ‘nikahnama’ to secure pardon. Pakistan has absolutely failed in its international obligations to protect non-Muslim women and girls from exploitation by powerful groups and criminal elements.

This psychologically impacts families of minorities who worry when their daughters venture out. The culture of intolerance is promoted when Muslim fundamentalists celebrate another ‘conversion’ and marriage as a victory for the Muslim faith in the local community. Pakistan is a burning hell for minority community girls.

Photo Credit : Getty Images

Like this: Like Loading...