The tragic trend of forced conversions in Pakistan has been continuing unabated but a new phenomenon has been noted in the recent past. All mainline newspapers have stopped giving any coverage to inconvenient news of this nature. As such, it is now left to some courageous social media accounts and portals to report/record these painful events.
Some days ago, Suraj Kumar, a 20-year-old Hindu youth from Umarkot district in Sindh, disappeared under mysterious circumstances from his home. The family’s search for their young one proved futile for 48 hours and then suddenly he surfaced with a new Islamic name Muhammad Ali. The official accounts regarding the incident say that he allegedly embraced Islam in Gulzar Khalil during the period he was missing. This narrative of “voluntary’’ embrace of Islam is bandied out by Islamists in Pakistan to create a smokescreen of confusion and utter helplessness for the victims.
What transpired during those hours Suraj Kumar had gone missing? The answer is as chilling as it is same old familiar script of alleged change of heart leading him to embrace Islam.
Mufti Peer Muhammad Ibrahim Khan is the person who apparently oversaw the conversion of Suraj Kumar who was given the new Islamic name of Muhammad Ali. The incident of conversion has been recorded on a certificate issued on April 1, 2025.
The certificate in Urdu says that Suraj Kumar, son of Ramesh Kumar, Resident of Somroo, has given up Hinduism of his own free will. It further says that this 20-year-old boy has now converted to Islam and this is being confirmed by the authority issuing the certificate.
Until now, Hindu girls in Sindh have been the primary victims of abductions, coercion, and forced conversions. But now, it is clear that Hindu boys across all of Sindh are also being targeted. Suraj Kumar’s sudden disappearance, followed by his allege ‘voluntary’ conversion, is yet another alarming case that exposes the systematic persecution of minorities in Pakistan.
It is not clear as to what led Suraj Kumar to this desperate deed but reports suggest that Hindu boys are now being threatened with blasphemy accusations. Incidentally, blasphemy charges are an an offense that carries severe consequences in Pakistan, often resulting in extrajudicial violence with complicit police aiding the perpetrators, not the victim.
With fear of being falsely accused of blasphemy and then being lynched, these young Hindu boys have no choice but to submit. It needs to be mentioned here that Section 295, its various provisions, make blasphemy charges a dreaded nightmare for the minorities, including Hindus. What happened to Suraj Kumar is not an isolated incident—it signals the beginning of an even more widespread oppression of Hindus and the start of a well thought out plan of Islamists to target Hindus.
Slowly but steadily, the Hindu community of Sindh province I Pakistan is being systematically targeted and erased by rabid Islamists. However, the global community has been maintaining a deafening silence on the issue of forced conversions of Hindus.
In another incident of forced conversion, reported from Daharki in Sindh, a married Hindu women, a mother of two, has been forcibly converted in the last week of March. According to a report of sindhrenaissance.com, Chandani, a married woman and mother of two, was forcibly converted by Islamists and this act has devastated her family.
Islamists abducted Chandani ad then took her to the residence of Pir Mian Javed Ahmed Qadi in Bharchundi, a location notorious for such incidents. There, she was pressured into reciting the Kalma, an Islamic declaration of faith, and was given the new name Amna. In a matter of just hours, a happy Hindu family with young children now has no mother to look after them. The forced conversion of Chandani to Amna has not been reported by any newspaper or TV channel.
The systematic persecution of religious minorities, particularly Hindu women, in Sindh has been a growing concern for human rights activists. Many cases follow a similar pattern—women and minor girls are abducted, coerced into religious conversion, and often married off against their will. They are forced under threats of severe violence against their family members and married to the very men who are their abductors and rapists. The Hindu families who resist these forced conversions then face threats, legal hurdles, and little to no support from authorities, be it the police or local politicians.
How long will this oppression continue unchecked? Why are the authorities failing to protect religious minorities? Where is the international response to these human rights violations? It must be said here that given the abject lawlessness prevailing in Pakistan, sometimes these cases are not reported at all for weeks and months.
The word Islamophobia is being peddled by Islamists the world over but there is little to suggest that these forced conversions are facing any challenges, legal or otherwise. Religious freedom is a fundamental right recongised universally, and it must be upheld for all communities equally. Global human rights organizations have failed to intervene, and expecting any strict legal actions from the police seems an unrealistic dream.
Yet another name lost in the shadows of coercion and another identity stripped away is that of a minor Hindu girl from Kotri, Sindh. Reports have surfaced that minor Hindu Dalit girl Lachmi Bheel has been converted to Islam under the name of Dua Fatima. In a carefully staged media appearance on March 13, she declared that she had embraced Islam of her own free will. But behind this public display lies a deeply disturbing reality—one of intimidation, threats, and unbearable trauma.
In her interview, Lachmi Bheel said that those who employed her had educated her about the virtues of Islam. She said that their constant interaction has convinced her that she should embrace Islam and she has now done so. However, it is not clear as to what day she was officially converted.
Forced conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh have become an all-too-common atrocity. The pattern is chillingly similar: young, vulnerable girls are abducted, subjected to psychological and physical abuse, and coerced into giving statements that paint a picture of willing acceptance. Meanwhile, their grieving families are silenced—either through threats or sheer helplessness in the face of a system that refuses to acknowledge their pain.
Instead of helping retrieve these hapless girls and women from the clutches of their abductors and rapists, the local police is often complicit. It goads the Islamists to continue acting in this manner with the police promising to look away and not take cognisance of these crimes.
Reports from human rights organizations and local activists reveal the horrifying ordeals these girls endure. Many are forcibly married to their abductors, subjected to rape and torture, and isolated from their loved ones. The legal system often turns a blind eye, and attempts by families to reclaim their daughters are met with hostility or outright dismissal.
The case of Lachmi Bheel is not unique. It is yet another reminder of the systemic persecution faced by religious minorities in Pakistan.
