Pakistan: Christian girl kidnapped, forced to marry, convert to Islam

An NGO in Pakistan has reported that they are assisting in the case of a young Christian woman who has been kidnapped, forced to marry and convert to Islam. Lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, head of Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD Family) which offers free assistance to Christian victims of abuse said the girl, Laveeza Bibi, aged 23, was kidnapped on April 14. Two Muslims stormed into her family's house, in the district of Kasur, in Punjab, armed with guns, they threatened her parents and took her away. One of the kidnappers, Muhammad Talib forced the girl to marry him.

Laveeza's father, Sarwar Masih, immediately went to the local police station, but the police were reluctant to registering a First Information Report.

Only after the intervention of Pastor Saleem Masih, along with the lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, have the police registered the complaint against Talib.

Gill told Fides this was not an isolated case. "In April in the area of Kasur alone, five Christian girls were kidnapped and converted to Islam and forced to marry their captors. These girls are denied the legal protection of individual rights," he said.

About a thousand such cases are registered every year and many more are unreported.

LEAD has pledged to continue to act and to raise awareness about the discrimination and violence suffered by women in Pakistan, particularly Christian religious minorities and Hindus. These crimes are rarely punished.

Read more about LEAD here: http://leadfamily.blogspot.co.uk/

Source: Fides