Surviving Intolerance and The Ugly Reality Of Forced Conversions in Pakistan
Syed Gul Kalash, hailing from the distinctive Kalasha community, opens up about facing verbal pressure to convert to Islam and abandon her culture. She recounts an incident where a family from Punjab insisted on helping her convert. Additionally, she shares another story involving disrespectful comments about her Kalasha traditions.
Almost weekly, news regarding Hindu and Christian children being kidnapped and abused by Muslim men emerge from Pakistan. Once abducted, these girls are forcefully converted to Islam, “married”, and raped. Many are forced to live with their abductors, and never see their families again.
“The victims are subjected to sexual assault and mental torture by the abductors. This is followed by their being forced to sign a copy of the Nikaahnama [Islamic marriage certificate]. Once the Nikahnama is signed, the victims become the ‘legal wife’ of one of their abductors as the law itself shields the perpetrators from being tried. This even if the victim Hindu girls are minor prior to their conversion in captivity. Furthermore, in cases in which the victims’ families seek legal help, and pressure is exerted on the police to catch the culprits, the recovered girls are sent to shelters instead of their parental homes.
“The girls’ staying at government owned shelters facilitate further opportunities for their original abductors to continue to pressurize the victims to accept their fate and their new identity. Sometimes the victims are also threatened with dire consequences if they refuse to co-operate. For example, the lives of members of their families are threatened.
“Abducted, raped and mentally tortured, the victims often accept their fate. Magistrates are informed of their willingness to stay with their ‘husbands’ under their newly given Islamic identity. Those who strongly resist are sent back to the shelter. Periodically these girls either break down, or if they are fortunate enough, they return to their parents.”
The Hindu American Foundation gives further details:
“Often, after being abducted, these girls are forcibly married to random men, raped, sold into human trafficking rings, or forced into prostitution. Several Islamic seminaries in Sindh incite their Muslim students to convert Hindu girls, telling them that it is the equivalent of Haj-e-Akbari, or the greatest religious duty for Muslims. These seminaries hold the kidnapped Hindu girls against their will, convert them to Islam, and subsequently force them to marry Muslim men, often twice their age. Threatened into silence and fearful for the safety of their families, the girls are then taken to a local court by their abductors, where a judge usually sanctions the legality of the marriage and conversion.”
A report in 2022, entitled “Conversion without Consent: A report on the abductions, forced conversions, and forced marriages of Christian girls and women in Pakistan” issued by the Voice for Justice Organization and the Jubilee Campaign, notes:
“Although the majority of the girl victims of forced faith conversions and child marriage are minors, the fabricated age of all victims is deliberately altered to 18 years or above by perpetrators on certificates of marriage to avoid criminal conviction under the 1929 Child Marriage Restraint Act according to which marriage to underage children is illegal and punishable by imprisonment…
“All minor girls are presented as adults and economically independent, and their marriages are executed in the absence of a lawyer or consent of a legal guardian (parents)…
“All girl victims are made to change their identity by changing their names…
“Many cases involving abduction, followed by child/forced marriage and forced conversions of minority girls are not reported to the police due to the stigma attached to the abduction followed by rape…
“The minorities lack access to justice due to financial constraints as exercising the right to fair trial involves a lot of financial resources, time, and efforts.
“The minorities face intimidation, harassment and threats from the Muslims that prevent them from following-up the cases in courts of law. Several girls reunited with families after they faced abduction, forced marriage and forced conversion; however, minorities are not likely to file petitions in court to bring perpetrators to justice due to the influence of the actors involved in conversion…
“Whilst all citizens in Pakistan face obstacles in access to justice, minority religious groups face even greater difficulties in the pursuit of justice. The police often turn a blind eye to reports of abduction and forced conversions, thereby creating impunity for perpetrators. The police forces, which are overwhelmingly Muslim, generally sympathize with the goal of converting religious minorities to Islam. In limited instances of police intervention, local leaders exert considerable pressure to prevent any action.”
The report gives many examples of abducted Christian children. “Persicla Dilawar, a 15-year-old Christian girl, for instance, was abducted from her home in Sumundhari, Faisalabad. Persicla’s father Dilawar reported he and his wife were asleep when Muslim man Muhammad Qasim broke into their home and kidnapped their daughter. Qasim reportedly threatened them with death if they reported the incident. Consequently, Qasim forcibly married Persicla.”.
