Canada writer says sexual slavery of Hindu, Christian women in Pakistan meant 'to save' them from sin
Guest column by Shawn Forbes
In Pakistan a disturbing practice is rapidly becoming a
legitimate social convention. Young
women from Christian and Hindu families are being abducted from their families,
forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. These barbaric acts not only go unpunished
but are in fact commonplace. To really
comprehend how this transpires we must acknowledge that the average perspective
over there is much different from our own.
Actions which seem misguided or immoral from our perspective are
justified and even mandatory from their perspective.
The practice of forcible conversion and marriage is widely
promoted by Mullahs who convince their congregations that they are saving these
young women from sin by converting them to Islam. The mindset to rationalize their actions is
one of belief that they are simply fulfilling their religious obligations. Which is very convenient belief for a young
man who desires a wife. Abducted girls
are convinced under duress that the forced conversion and marriage into a
Muslim family will bring blessings to them and their family. Subsequently the victims themselves are often
reluctant to testify due to the potential for reprisal. This mentality is further cemented by threats
of violence against them and their families should they refuse to
cooperate.
Most recently a very young Hindu girl named Nisha, daughter
of Diwan Mal, was abducted at gunpoint from Panu Aqil. Within days of her abduction she was forcibly
converted to Islam and married to Pir (Sufi preceptor) of Bharchundi Sharif.
A few months earlier another Hindu Woman named Kasturi Kohli
was also abducted at gunpoint, only four days after her wedding. Kasturi Kohli was taken from her home village
of Kothara and forcibly married to Mohammed Ali Khoso. The Muslim cleric who presided over the
forced conversion and marriage is Pir Ayub Jan Farooqi, aka Pir Ayub Jan
Sirhandi. Pir Farooqi boasts that he has
converted thousands of young Hindus to Islam, and will not rest until he has
converted all the Hindus in his locality to Islam.
In September of 2017 a 20 year old Hindu school teacher
named Arti Kumari Sharma was kidnapped at gunpoint. Arti was taken to a mosque where she was
forced to convert to Islam then engaged to be married to Amir Bux. Although her family brought her case before
local police, they have refused to provide assistance. To this day Arti remains captive prisoner of
Amir Bux.
In May of 2016 a 24-year-old Christian Woman named Marriam
Mushtaq was abducted from Lahore Bahar Colony.
While on her way to class at Saint Thomas School, Marriam was abducted
at gunpoint by several men. Police
initially refused to acknowledge the report, until after her family protested
at the prime minister’s house. When the
Police finally accepted their report, they found records that Marriam had
already been forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muhammad Ali.
In October of 2015 Sonia Bibi, a Christian Woman from Multan,
was doused in gasoline and set ablaze after she refused a marriage proposal
from her former Muslim boyfriend, Latif Ahmed.
A short time later Sonia Bibi died in the hospital from her injuries.
In July 2015 a young woman named Fouzia Sadiq was abducted
from a field located at Burj Mahalam, Chak No.35, Pattoki, where she worked on
as a bonded laborer. When the family
discovered she had been abducted they approached the landowner’s home but were
told by his brother that she would be returned shortly. The next day when they returned for their
daughter they were threatened and told she had been converted to Islam and was
now the property of her new husband Muhammed Nazir.
In February of 2014 Two Christian sisters, “Hina” and
“Marina” from Lahore were forced to go into hiding after attempts by extremist
to kidnap them, forcefully convert them to Islam and marry them. Mulan’a Abdul
Attiq took his son and nephew Hafiz Nasir and Abid Attri to arrange a forced
wedding to both Christian sisters. The forced wedding attempts were resisted by
the Christian sisters and their families.
As reprisal for their rejection of the forced conversion and marriage,
reports were filed with the local police accusing the sisters of blasphemy.
There are but a few examples of the tens of thousands of
similar such cases in Pakistan. In April
2014 the Movement of Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan reported that “1000 girls
are abducted, raped and forced into Islamic marriage every year, 700 of which
are estimated to be Christian girls.”
According to the most recent available statistics, only 1.6% of
Pakistan’s population are Christian, and also 1.6% is Hindu. This means 96.8 % of Pakistan population is
Muslim. In Pakistani law, a Muslim marriage instantly nullifies a Christian or
Hindu marriage, thus leaving the victims without any legal ability to recover
their abducted daughters.
In Pakistan the wanton oppression of religious minorities
stems from an ingrained belief that non-Muslims are Idol worshippers, atheists
and non-believers of Allah (SWT) & his Prophet (PBUH). Religious schools known as Madrassas instruct
students from a young age that non-Muslims are considered less than human. From their perspective practicing misbelief and
worshipping idols in their midst is considered an insult to their faith. It becomes their religious duty to purify
their surroundings and spread the truth of Islam. By doing so they are fulfilling the very
essence of the Islamic State of Pakistan, which literally translates to “Land
of the Pure”.
Despite how sinister barbaric or cruel this seem from our
perspective; the majority of Pakistan’s population is supportive because they
fear that should they oppose or condemn such mentality they themselves will
become designated as apostates. Pakistan
even maintains draconian blasphemy laws to enforce this.
Recently a journalism student Mashaal Khan was beaten to
death by a mob at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan on April 13, 2017.
He was accused of posting "blasphemous content" on social media. On
February 8 the suspects involved in the brutal murder of Mashaal Khan were
acquitted by Pakistans courts and released. Members of several hard-line religious
parties, including Jamaat-i Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i Islam, showered those
acquitted with rose petals and labelled them as "heroes."
In 2014 at a rural village near Lahore Pakistan a Christian
couple Shama Bibi and her husband Shehzad Masih were dragged from their home,
savagely beaten by a mob and burned alive over a brick kiln in front of their
three children. They were falsely
accused of burning pages of the Quran.
In March of 2014 a frenzied mob of over 200 people ransacked
and set fire to a Hindu temple in Larkana because someone claimed to have seen burned
pages of the Quran in a garbage bin near the home of a local Hindu man.
In 2013 an enraged mob torched an entire Christian
neighborhood at Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh, Lahore, following allegations of
blasphemy against a Christian man. The
3000+ person mob torched dozens of homes to the ground and the local Christian
residents were forced to flee.
Ironically Sawan Masih, the Christian man accused of blasphemy, was
later sentenced to death by the Pakistani courts.
With only a glimpse into the world of Pakistan its obvious
that religious intolerance and persecution of minorities is the acceptable
model in Pakistani society. Although it
is not feasible to expect Pakistanis to adopt our Western social values, we can
however adjust US foreign policies concerning Pakistan to include conditions against
forced conversion and marriage. We can
also create avenues for oppressed minorities to escape persecution. We must also urge the Pakistani courts to
rule in favor of the victims and their families in the case of Aarti Kumari
Sharma and the other Women in similar predicaments.
Written by Shawn Forbes, a human rights defender, on behalf
of the American Friends of Balochistan for justice for Hindu and Christian
girls, who face sexual slavery in Pakistan. This document is the not simply an
opinion of the writer, rather it is a compilation based on direct testimonial of
first-hand experience from hundreds of people who lived in Pakistan. This
article is not intended as a criticism of Islam because Islam is perfect. Rather this is an explanation of how
individuals in Pakistan are manipulating peoples deep religious beliefs to
fulfill their own personal agendas.
The American Friends of Balochistan is an organization based
in Washington D.C. The goal of the A.F.B. is to unite Baloch and Americans from
different backgrounds to protect democracy and secularism in Balochistan. The
stated goal of the organization is to end human rights abuses in Balochistan by
both the state and non-state actors.
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