Forced conversion of minority girls in Pakistan

In Pakistan, on average around over a 1000 underage girls belonging to the minority Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities are kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam every year and forcibly married and subjected to rape.[2] According to human rights organisations hundreds of Hindu, Sikh, Christian girls are abducted and converted every year. The National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP) said that the number of abductions of Christian girls is increasing every year. Alleged forced conversions of girls belonging to the Kalash community were also reported in media. Most of the targets are Hindu and Christian girls from lower Castes and poor families.[5] Such cases of forced conversions are being reported increasingly in the Southern Sindh districts of Tharparkar, Umerkot and Mirpur Khas[6] and in the South Punjab, particularly the Rahim Yar Khan District and adjacent areas. Some of these victims are allegedly as young as 12 years old.

Quotes

• The Pakistani Nobel Laurette Malala Yousafzai spoke against forced conversions in Pakistan and said "It should be a personal choice and no one, especially a child shouldn’t be forced to accept any faith or convert to any other religion out of the will,"
  • in Daily Times [1]

• the Deputy Leader of Conservative Party of Canada Candice Bergen has said that "The reports coming out of Pakistan of Christian and Hindu girls being abducted, raped, forced into marriages and coerced to convert from their faith are deeply concerning and need to be addressed".
  • in National Post [2]