New Delhi (NVI): Abduction of Hindu girls and their forcible marriage with their kidnappers continues in Pakistan, with the latest incident being reported from Sindh Province.
In the fresh case, a 40-year-old Muslim man abducted a 14-year-old Hindu girl in Chundiko in Sindh and married her forcibly, but not before converting her to Islam, according to a media report in Pakistan.
The abductor, Mohammad Aachar Darejo, got himself photographed with the minor girl. The picture also showed him and the girl displaying an alleged ‘nikah-nama’.
The photo has been doing the rounds on social media where users have condemned the incident and called on the authorities to hold an inquiry, reported Naya Daur.
The report said that in last year alone, more than 41 Hindu girls were kidnapped and converted to Islam by force.
Around 1,000 cases of Hindu and Christian girls being forced to convert were estimated in the province of southern Sindh alone in 2018, according to the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Tragically, such incidents are continuing with impunity despite Sindh Province having a law banning child marriage. ‘The Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act’ of 2014 makes marriage below the age of 18 years, for both boys and girls, a punishable offence but there is no implementation of this law.
An estimated 4.5 million Hindus live in Pakistan, majority of them in Sindh, and they continue to face oppression and torture, including the form of rapes and forcible marriage.
Every year, thousands of Hindu and Christian girls and young women are kidnapped by Muslims in Pakistan and forcibly married. In many cases, the abductor-cum-grooms are elderly people, marrying minor girls.
And while these forced conversions have been going on for decades, a recent surge in reported cases has brought the issue back into the limelight, the Naya Daur report said.
“Some day coronavirus will end but this virus will always stay in Pakistan. 14-year-old Hindu girl, abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and marrited to her 40-year-old abductor in Chundiko area of Sindh,” Pakistani journalist Nailya Inayat tweeted.
“Chundiko Sindh, one 14 years old Hindu Girl suthi Oad have been abducted and later been forcedly converted and married to 40 years old Mohammad Aachar darejo. This is utterly ridiculous and condemned. However corona will end but this injustice will remain same in Pakistan,” tweeted netizen Shahzad Hussain.
