Summary
Two Christian girls, Ms. Saba (13) and Ms. Anila
(10) were kidnapped on 26 June 2008 and forcibly
converted to Islam by three Muslim men, Muhammad Arif,
Amjad Ali and Muhammad Ashraf. The minor girls are
currently kept in Darul Aman (a house for destitute
women) and their family is continuously threatened by the
three.
The kidnappers claimed to the police that the
girls had converted to Islam and Ms. Saba got married to
Mr. Amjad Ali. However, the legal council of the
family, Mr. Rashid Rehman Khan, advised that the girls,
being minor, were not entitled to change their faith or
contract marriage without their parents’
authorization.
The parents alleged that the local police helped
the accused and refused to take any action against the
abductors on their complaint. Moreover, the
Additional Sessions Judge (trial court) dismissed the
habeas corpus petition (section 491, Criminal Procedure
Code) filed by the parents on 14 July, based on Ms.
Saba’s testimony that she was 17 and married to
Amjad Ali after her conversion to Islam. The Judge
even refused to accept the girls’ birth certificate
as proof of their age.
Later, on 29 July, Lahore High Court (LHC) Multan
Bench again ordered to keep the girls in Darul Aman (a
house for destitute women) on a writ petition by the
girl’s mother until next hearing.
Only on 6 August, when the LHC Multan Bench heard
the case did Justice Sagheer Ahmad order a medical
examination of Ms. Saba to ascertain her age and ruled to
keep the girls in Darul Aman until the next hearing on 20
August.
Human rights organizations, including the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan, Justice and Peace
Commission, Multan, Pakistan Catholic Women Organization
and National Commission for Justice and Peace, are
following the case. Press statements were issued on
10 July 2008 and an appeal was sent to the Mian Shahbaz
Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab to act for the
recovery of the victims.
Concerned groups believe that the conversion of
religion was used to cover up the offence of kidnapping.
The trial court (Additional District Court) has
failed to provide justice and the police and
administration were futile to help the aggrieved family.
As the conversion to Islam and the reported
contract marriage is a contentious legal matter, the
girls should not be kept away from their family during
this process which could take years to settle.
This situation reinforces a sense of insecurity
and fear among the aggrieved family and members of
religious minorities, especially because of lack of
action on part of the government to bring the predators
to justice.
Response to this case is urgently needed since the
court would give the verdict regarding the custody of the
minor girls in its next hearing on 20 August 2008.
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Sample
Letter
We are writing with grave
concern to draw your attention to the kidnapping
of two minor girls, Ms. Saba (13) and Ms. Anila
(10), daughters of Younis Masih, resident of Chak
No. 552/TDA Chawk Munda, district Muzzafargarh on
26 June 2008.
Three Muslim men, namely Muhammad Arif,
Amjad Ali and Muhammad Ashraf, who reportedly
kidnapped the two minor sisters when they were
going to their uncle’s place, later claimed
that the girls have converted to Islam and that
Ms. Saba had changed her name to Fatima Bibi and
got married to one of the alleged kidnappers
Amjad Ali.
We are deeply disturbed to notice
following pattern of systematic human rights
violations in the case under question:
• The conversion (religion) was used
to cover up a crime (kidnapping);
• Police and administration failed to
provide security available to citizens
(registration of a criminal complaint and
investigation) to a family belonging to a
minority religion; and
• The trial court has failed to
provide justice: as conversion of a minor and
reported marriage of Ms. Saba is a controversial
legal matter, it should not entail keeping both
girls away from her family while things are being
settled.
Pakistan, as a member of United Nations
has obligation to respect and ensure the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
guaranteed under the Article 18 of United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR). We would also like to bring your
attention to Article 16(b) of Convention on
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, which is directly related to the
child marriage issue.
Moreover, we understand that the Child
Marriages Restraint Act 1929 has established
minimum age for marriage to be 18 years age for
boys and 16 years age for girls or when she
reaches puberty.
In the spirit of the 61st
anniversary of independence of Pakistan which you
have recently celebrated, we strongly request
your government to provide an equal ground to all
citizens belonging to vulnerable and minority
religions and sectors and kindly ensure that the
following measures are taken urgently:
• investigate the case and take
action against the alleged kidnappers and the
Station House Officer of Chawk Munda;
• transfer the custody of the two
minor Christian girls to their parents
immediately; and
• prevent the cases of kidnapping and
forced conversions in Pakistan by implementing
the existing safeguards and appropriate
legislation.
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Background
Geographical locale
District Muzzafargarh is managed by Thal
Development Authority (TDA), Government of Punjab
(South). Since 1976, hundreds of Christian peasants
settled in different villages of district.
Twenty-four Christian families, including the
abducted girls’, live and cultivate over 300 acres
of land in village Chak No. 552/TDA, Chawk Munda.
The Christian farmers cultivating this government
land face forced evictions from land grabbers who are
mostly Muslims. The situation of land grabbing with
persecution of the farmers and has continued in past
couple of decades with connivance of local police and
administration.
The incident
On 26 June 2008, the aggrieved family approached
the Station House Officer (SHO) of their village to
register the case but he refused. On 10 July the
parents filed a petition at the court of Mian Muhammad
Ilyas, Additional Sessions Judge, Muzzafargarh seeking an
order for registration of the case in the local police
station. Only then did the court direct the SHO to
look into the matter and issued orders for the production
of the kidnapped girls for their testimony.
When the girls appeared in court, they stated that
they had converted to Islam and the elder sister, Ms.
Saba, claimed she had contracted a marriage with Amjad
Ali, one of the accused. Consequently on 14 July
2008, District and Sessions Judge of Muzafargarh, Mian
Sardar Naeem, upheld the Islamic law rationale, and
dismissed the habeas corpus petition (section 491,
Criminal Procedure Code) filed by the parents, on the
grounds that “there is no merit in the application
and the girls had converted to Islam. Therefore,
the girls cannot be compelled to join their
parents”. This verdict clearly puts religion
before justice.
On 17 July 2008, the parents filed a petition
under Article 199 of the Constitution of Pakistan in the
Lahore High Court Multan Bench against the verdict.
On 6 August 2008, the date of hearing, the court
issued orders seeking the medical examination for
ascertaining the age of Ms. Saba, while to keeping them
in Darul Aman until 20 August 2008.
Kidnapping and Forced Conversions in
Pakistan
Conversion in Pakistani context means conversion
to Islam. Besides Islamic preachers and an element
of winning souls by “hook or by crook”, there
are other illegitimate pressures to convert people to
Islam, such as forced marriages or marriages without the
consent of family. According to AsiaNews, forced
conversions figures reach between 500-600 people a year
in Pakistan, although national media reports only 100
such cases, which police and the courts “treat
prejucially”. Most of the time, the issue of
conversion would cover up the crime in question.
During the meeting “Forced Conversion of
Women and Minorities Rights in Pakistan” which was
held on 26 May 2008 in Lahore, a Sikh (another religious
minority) participant mentioned that one of the toughest
challenges to overcome was the subjection of judges to
Islamic clerics: “Judges do not manage to deal with
such cases neutrally because they are scared of the
revenge of religious extremists”.
Christians are only 1.5 percent of the total
population of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and under its
Constitution, people belonging to minority religions do
not have equal rights as compared to Muslims.
According to the National Commission for Justice
and Peace (NCJP), twenty-seven Christians
(including 10 men, 10 women and 7 minors) converted to
Islam in 2007.
For more information about land-grabbing situation
and struggles of Christian families in Muzzafargarh
district, please refer to UA070317(1) issued by Hotline
Asia last year.
Source:
Local source
National Commission for Justice and
Peace - Pakistan
International Christian Concern
Compass Direct News
AsiaNews
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