KARACHI: Members of Pakistan’s minority Hindu community staged a protest in Hyderabad city, Sindh province, over the alleged abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of three minor Hindu girls.
According to a police FIR filed on Monday night, the girls were abducted from Sanghar district on July 13 and later forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. The complaint was registered following back-to-back protests by the victims’ families on Sunday and Monday, who maintained the girls were underage.
However, the three girls appeared before the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad Circuit Bench on Wednesday, claiming they had willingly converted and married of their own choice. They were accompanied by their husbands during the court appearance.
Sindh Human Rights Commission Chairman Iqbal Ahmed Detho said he has requested senior police officials to ensure a fair and impartial investigation. “If the girls are found to be underage as claimed by their parents, the marriages would fall under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013,” Detho stated.
Shiva Kaachi, head of a welfare organization for the Hindu community, expressed concern over the recurring nature of such incidents in Sindh. “Cases of Hindu girls being abducted, converted, and married off are becoming alarmingly frequent. Most affected families are too poor to seek legal help,” he said.
Sindh is home to the majority of Pakistan’s Hindu population, who share cultural, linguistic, and traditional ties with their Muslim neighbors.
