Page 6 - Testify 1-14 Nov 2020

6 1 - 14 November 2020
Police rescue teenage girl forced By Simon Madu

into marriage and conversion

The Pakistani police have The recovery of the girl
finally rescued a 13-year- came nearly a month after
old girl who was allegedly the girl’s parents refused to
abducted and forced to re- give up on their child. Le-
nounce her Christian faith gal action ensued, and the
and marry a 44-year-old court failed to act because
man. they accepted the state-
ments the girl gave saying
The girls’ parent raised the she was 18 and had mar-
alarm on 13 October, when ried of her own free will.
the teenage girl went miss-
ing. Two days later, her fa- The girl’s parents claimed
ther was informed that Ali she was only 13, and as
Azhar took their daughter a result, under-aged and
away and claimed to have unable to exercise her free
married her without the will on matters relating to
parent’s consent. When marriage.
the father reported the mat-
ter to the authorities, the A public outcry and pres-
girl’s family was informed sure from campaign
that Mr Ali had produced groups prompted the court
a marriage certificate stat- to rescind their decision
ing that she was 18, had and decided to investigate
converted to Islam, and the matter.
they are now married. The
family claimed the identifi- Human right groups and
cation papers were false, the Catholic Church in Pa-
but when the case went to kistan argued that the girl
court on 27 October, the had been forced to give
Sindh High Court granted her statement after the 14-year-old Huma Younus went missing from her home on 10 October. her abductors claimed she got converted and
custody to the girl’s alleged marriage. Protesters also married the same day of her kidnapping.
abductor. took to the streets in Paki-
stan’s capital, Karachi. girl in protective custody until girl was kidnapped, forcibly con- When her family tried to get their
Fearing for the life of the another court hearing which was verted and married off to a man daughter back, the abductors pre-
parents, the court also Thereafter, the Sindh High scheduled for 5 November. called Abdul Jabar. sented them with a conversion pa-
offered protection for the Court ordered the police per.
girl’s family. That notwith- to search for the teenag- Abduction of young Christian girls Three men who abducted her
standing, the parents were er. When she was found, is becoming a common thing in waited until her parents were The parents of the 14-year-old went
willing to risk their lives to the authorities arrested Mr some parts of the country. out of her house, seized her and to court. Again, they were presented
save their daughter. Azher on suspicion of ab- forcefully took the girl away. with a conversion paper and mar-
duction and kept the young Last year, a 14-year-old Christian riage certificate to a Muslim man,
Abdul Jabar.

The girl’s mother was outraged by
the fake documents, as the date
of her alleged conversion was the
same as the day of her abduction. “It
is not possible,” she insists.

“For us, the papers are fake. We
want the court to intervene,” she
said,
Father Saleh Diego, vicar general
of the Archdiocese of Karachi and
director of the National Commis-
sion for Justice and Peace (NCJP),
slammed the kidnapping, reiterating
his full support for the victim’s family
forced into such a legal process.

The clergyman wants the govern-
ment and the courts to “prevent such
deeds” and “ensure those responsi-
ble are brought to justice as soon as
possible”.
Abducting for the purpose of forced
conversion and marriage is a major
issue in Pakistan. Most of the victims
are Christian and Hindu girls and
young women, forced to wed against
their will to much older Muslim men.

According to the Centre for So-
cial Justice in Pakistan, at least
159 cases were reported between
2013 and 2019. Some 16 girls and
young women have gone before the
Friends, family and well-wishers campaign for the release of Huma Younus.
Sindh High Court asking for support
against their forced marriages.