IN a shocking incident, the Sindh High Court granted custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl to her 44-year-old abductor in Pakistan’s Karachi.
The girl, identified as Arzoo Raja, was kidnapped from her home in Karachi’s Railway Colony on October 13 and forcibly converted to Islam. An FIR was registered at Singh court by her family thereafter.
However, the Sindh police summoned the victim’s family after two days and informed them that the kidnapper (Azhar Ali) has produced a marriage certificate with the girl that displayed that she is aged 18 years. As per the report, the girl was forcibly converted to Islam and married to the man, who is already wedded with children.
Naveed Walter, president of Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP) said minority girls, particularly Christian and Hindu, are forcefully converted to Islam and married to Muslim men.
“Girls belonging to the Minority community get abducted, converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. In most cases, local police stations, where the victim’s family submits complaints about her missing, inform about her conversion to Islam and getting married to the same abductor. The same day’s abduction, conversion and marrying is a common practice in such cases and has also happened with Arzoo in the same sequence,” said Naveed.
The HRFP fact-finding team brought out the fact that in proceedings of Sindh High Court dated October 27, 2020 all her records were altered including age, stating her as 18-year old and statement of her free will marrying and embracing Islam.
