An image from the protests, credits: The Social Talks
Cases of forced religion have never seen a dip in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Thousands of Hindu girls have been abducted by Islamists who never return home. Either they get converted or killed. Well, in a number of cases, the judiciary of Pakistan also seems to protect the perpetrators.
On April 5, an affidavit stating conversion being done by the consent of the victim started making rounds on the internet.
As per the document a 22-year-old woman identified as Bindia Meghwar daughter of Gopi Chand Meghwar a resident of post office 22, Jaam Rao tehsil, Sanghoro of Sanghar district of Sindh became a Muslim.
The document states that, the woman is a major and that she has been converting as per her own will. She will now be known as Fatima Bibi.
And that she knows Rizwan Ali, son of Nadir Hussain, a resident of post office 22, Jaam Rao tehsil, Sanghoro of Sanghar district of Sindh. Also, she married him as per her own will.
The victim was made to state that she left her family, her religion (Hinduism) without any coercion or threat.
Notably, this is not the first time that a Hindu woman has been abducted by any Islamist and made to sign such an agreement.
Before this girl on April 3, inUmerkot Sindh a Hindu girl Parwan daughter of Nirbhav Meghwar was converted to Islam at the Sufi shrine of Samaro and was married to Allah Dino.
Similarly, another woman Gula Kohli was kidnapped and converted to Islam and married to Sindhri resident Gul Khan Brohi.
In January this year, a 13-year-old Hindu girl Urmila Maheshwari went missing from Karachi city of Pakistan. It was later found that the minor was abducted by a man named Arshad Mohammed along with an accomplice.
The First Information Report (number—394/2022) in this case was registered in the Kemari district in Karachi.
The minor was abducted from the Shershah area of the city. Her nickname is ‘Sonu’.
The girl was finally recovered and presented before the court on 4 January 2023 by the police. From the court, the girl was sent to a ‘Dar-ul-Aman’ (shelter home).
Before the recovery of the minor girl, the family staged several protests across the city, prominently around the Press Club area. Various Twitter users shared the details of the protests through their official Twitter handles.
A woman social activist in the protest said, “We have been witnessing this for a long time now that Hindus living in Pakistan are being tortured. Due to this, many families are forced to leave the land. I want to repeat this – Hindus are being systematically driven off from Pakistan. The perpetrators are targeting our daughters for this. No law in the world allows a 13-year-old to choose her religion and husband. hHow can Pakistan allow this?”
After all these protests, the girl was finally recovered. After her statement in court, a video of her lawyer was shared on the internet.
The lawyer, Dilip Kumar Latani, on camera said that the minor did not know the meaning of ‘Kalma’ nor does she have any knowledge about Islam, the lawyer said.
He said that despite that, the minor said she had accepted Islam (on 4 January 2023).
She told the court she is 20 years old whereas her documents say she is a minor. After considering all the documents the court sent her to a shelter home.
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