Imran Khan Pakistan Photo Credit: IANS Pakistan PM Imran Khan

Key Highlights Radical Islamists in Pakistan are demanding death penalty for the minor Hindu girl

Mehak Kumari had earlier admitted to willfully marrying Ali Raza and denied any external pressure behind her conversion to Islam

While the cases of forceful conversions have always existed in Pakistan, a significant spike has been registered lately

Islamabad: Radical Islamists and clerics in Pakistan are up in arms against Hindu girl Mehak Kumari for retracting her previous statement in the court where she said that she had accepted Islam of her own free will.

The girl now says that she was forced to accept Islam causing a widespread furore among the Islamic fanatics who now are demanding death penalty for the minor girl for insulting Islam.

Advertising

Advertising

Mehak Kumari had earlier admitted to willfully marrying Ali Raza and denied any external pressure behind her conversion to Islam.

Her subsequent kidnapping and forced conversion invited widespread protests and condemnation by the minority Hindu community in Pakistan which said that a nexus between government officials and Islamic clerics was acting behind forced conversions which were happening all over the country.

After the girl renounced Islam, rabid Islamists in Pakistan are demanding death penalty to the minor accusing her of insulting Islam. They have rejected the probe and proceedings of Sessions Court and have already moved to the high court threatening to go to the Shariat Court if the girl is not brought to justice in a manner they want.

Loading ...

Talking to the media, one of the clerics said that as the girl has renounced Islam they will be acting as the Sharia law in the future.

We have made an appeal in the high court and will be receiving an order tomorrow. If required, we will go to the Supreme Court and the Shariat Court, he added.

Meanwhile, the court which is yet to announce the verdict has sent Mehak Kumari to a local Dar-ul-Aman in Larkana district of Sindh for eleven days.

The counsel who is representing the parents of the minor girl, who are also the complainants in the case, told the media that the court wanted to have a thorough investigation into the case and didn't want to rush the judgment under any pressure.

The court has not announced any verdict and we have been given a time frame of eleven days, said the counsel adding that the next hearing is on February 18.

While the cases of forceful conversions have always existed in Pakistan, a significant spike has been registered lately. The fundamentalists who hold great sway in the country have been pushing for such practices and have been encouraging youth into doing so.

Loading ...

While Prime Minister Imran Khan regularly preaches India about the condition of Muslims and Kashmiris, minorities in his own country systematically face persecution. Though Pakistan was never heaven for the minorities, however, ever since Imran Khan’s PTI came to power, oppression and attack on Hindus has been on the rise.