Lahore: In Pakistan, Christians are abducted, married, and forced to convert to Islam. In Faisalabad, a 14-year-old Christian girl named Mayara Shahbaz was abducted, married, and subsequently subjected to forced conversion. After her daughter’s disappearance, her mother was hospitalized with a heart attack.
Muhammad Nagesh, an Islamist, arrived with weapons on April 28 and abducted Mayira from her home. The case went to court but the court stayed with the accused. Parish and school records show that Mayra was 14 years old, but her parents did not consider the case. About fifty people accompanied Muhammad Nagesh to court.
Khaleel Tahir, a lawyer and Mayor of the family of Maira, said he would appeal to the Lahore High Court in the case. If necessary, he will not hesitate to go to the Supreme Court, he added. John Pontiffs, head of the media unit of the Christian charity Aid to the Church in Need, told Premier UK that the law does not apply Sharia law to religious believers, which is why authorities approve such marriages.
Child marriage is forbidden in some places in Pakistan, but religious laws are the primary concern. John Pontifex pointed out that the family of Mayra is incapacitated by the prevailing law in the country. According to a report by the human rights organization Movement for Solidarity and Peace, about 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls are abducted annually in Pakistan. It is customary to marry these men by force. They don’t even get justice from the court.
