For very long this has continued to happen with impunity.
While the case of the two Hindu girls from Sindh in Pakistan geting forcefully converted has got widespread attention, with even Sushma Swaraj getting involved in a Twitter war , unfortunately, it is merely the proverbial tip of iceberg.
According to reports, many such cases happen frequently and go unreported. Villages in districts of Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar and Umerkot in Sindh (close to Indian border) with reasonable Hindu population is particularly susceptible to such cases of forced conversion and marriage to Muslim men with tacit or direct support from the administration which does precious little.
A 2014 report states that nearly 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted in Pakistan every year. A similar modus operandi of abduction, conversion and marriage is mostly followed and the girl's family remains completely helpless. No one listens to their complaint and the victim has to face great physical and mental harassment. Very rarely in such cases does the girl manage to get back to her family. With rising religious fundamentalism, Instances of such cases from Sindh are steadily increasing.
1. Anshul Kumari too faced similar fate
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In January this year,sixteen year old Anusha Kumari was marrief off to a Muslim man. Indian HC took up the matter but no action was taken. Similarly, in 2017, Ravita Meghawar, another 16-year-old was forcefully converted and married off. According to Ravita's parents she was abducted and later converted by Pir Ayub Jan at the Sarhandi shrine in Samaro and married off to one of her kidnapper Nawaz Ali Shah.Another case of forced conversion of a Hindu minority teacher was of Arti Kumari, a teacher hailing from Sindh was similarly forcefully converted in 2017.
A minor Sikh girl Priya Kaur [aged 17] was kidnapped and married off [April 28- 29, 2017] to one Wajid Ali in Buner district of KP and was forced to embrace Islam.
Indian government in multiple instances in February 2019, June 2018 and December 2017 have highlighted the issue with the Pakistani government.
2. Horrific statistics
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A 2014 report from the Movement for Solidarity and Peace estimated that nearly 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every year. The report found that forced marriages usually follow a similar pattern: girls between the ages of 12 and 25 are abducted, made to convert to Islam, and then married to the abductor or an associate. Normally, no cognizance is taken of such complaints.
Even if a complaint is registered, during the conclusion of the case, abducted girls remain in custody of the abductors and suffer all kinds of abuse and violence. Such cases rarely end in the girls going back to their real families
3. Bill to stop such incidents in limbo
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Seems like even in Naya Pakistan, Hindu lives don't matter. After the issue of forced conversions of underage Hindu girls in Sindh gained traction, social activists along with Hindu organizations pushed the Sindh Assembly to pass a bill against the practice in November 2016. But due to opposition from Muslim organizations, the Governor returned (January 2017) the Bill to Sindh Assembly, after that the bill is laying with the Sindh Assembly.
In recent times, the issue of forced conversion has become a burning issue in Sindh. The main reasons could be attributed to increasing wave of fundamentalism in the form of rise in number of madrasas by various Islamic organizations preaching Salafi ideology such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal) (JUI-F) madrasas complex in New Islamabad, in Umerkot, Jamat-du-Dawa’s madrasa in Mithi in Tharparkar and presence of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) in Tharparkar and the Salafi Ahle Hadith Movement and its political arm Jamait Ahle Hadith in Tharparkar and Badin districts
4. Pakistani feudal lords prey on Hindu girls
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According to Pakistan social activists, at least 25 conversions of young Hindu girls and women take place every month in Kunri and Samaro Talukas of Umerkot. After the conversion, the girls, in most cases, are never again seen by their families. Before the conversion the girls are kept 15-20 days in captivity where they are raped and intimidated to not to go back to their families and the Maulvies convert them to Islam.
The girls also due to social stigma and pregnancy choose the lesser evil of living with the kidnapper. In most of the cases, the kidnappers are old Zamidaars who are looking for young consorts and domestic help. These girls and their children are never accepted by these Zamidaar families and they are given separate accommodation. According to local Hindus, only the wealthy Muslim Zamindars prey on their young girls and women.
The northern and central Sindh are mostly home to upper caste Hindu business families, most of them who have shifted to Karachi. These rich Hindu families experience fewer cases of forced conversions of their daughters. However, in the southern Sindh (Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar) many lower-caste Hindus live who are agro-based bonded labourers. They do not have any access to education, health and basic amenities and called as ‘Haris’ working on the landholdings of Muslim Zamindars. The daughters and women of ‘Haris’ are easy prey for the Muslim Zamindars .
5. 'Qazi must immediately comply, else will be a Kafir'
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Sarhandi shrine in Samaro in Umerkot and Barchundi Sharif in Mirpurkhas are hotbeds of such religious conversions.
Thousands of Hindu girls and young women have been converted to Islam, mostly those belonging to Scheduled Castes – Bheel, Meghwar, Bhaagri and Kohli. Pir Waliullah Sarhandi at the Sarhandi shrine said, “when a young girl is brought before a qazi for conversion to Islam the qazi must comply immediately, else he becomes kafir”.
With increase in the activities of various madrassas of different Islamic denominations and Muslim charity organisations in Tharparkar, Umerkot and Mirpurkhas, other than the forced conversion of underage Hindu girls and women, active efforts are being made to convert Hindu families by offering them material inducement such as ration, livestock, housing etc.
