Police in Sindh recovered the kidnapped Hindu girl from Karachi’s Bachalpur on Friday morning. (Image: Reuters/Representative)
The minor girl was abducted at gunpoint by nine men, who also stole 1 lakh Pakistani rupees and jewellery and later forcibly got her married and converted her to Islam.
After outcry in Pakistan’s Sindh assembly regarding a Hindu girl being kidnapped and forced to convert and marry a Muslim man, the police recovered the minor in a raid in the early hours of Friday morning, the Dawn said in a report.
Shaheed Benazirabad police official Younis Chandio told the news outlet that the girl was recovered following a raid in the Bachalpur area by a strong contingent of police.
The girl was produced before a judge who ordered that she be sent to a women’s shelter home.
Earlier on Thursday, Sindh lawmakers begged law enforcement authorities to take stern action against those who abducted and forcibly converted the girl and married her.
“She is my relative, please have mercy on her,” Pakistan lawmaker from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan (MQM-(P)) Mangla Sharma appealed in the Sindh assembly earlier on Thursday, begging lawmakers to address the menace of forced conversions.
The girl’s father lodged an FIR at the Qazi Ahmed police station after her kidnapping against nine suspects and the police arrested only a handful of them.
The father said that nine armed men kidnapped his 15-year-old daughter who was studying in Class VIII from his home and also stole PKR 100,000 in cash and gold jewellery.
Lal Chand Ukrani, who had raised the issue on the floor of the Sindh Assembly, thanked the government for recovering the kidnapped girl. MQM-P’s Mangla Sharma and Sanjay Perwani, Pakistan Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) Nand Kumar and ministers Mukesh Kumar Chawla and Giyan Chand Essrani also thanked the provincial government for taking action.
Sindh minister Syeda Shehla Raza said the girl was recovered at 4am in the morning on Friday and taken to Nawabshah’s women police station.
A report by Forbes said that more than 1,000 girls are forcibly converted to Islam every year in Pakistan. “We respect every religion, but it is not appropriate to change someone’s religion by force,” Sindh minister Giyan Chand Essrani said on Thursday, according to Dawn.
Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial assembly member (MPA) Lal Chand Ukrani became emotional on Thursday when he raised the issue in the provincial assembly.
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