Pakistan: Christian minor kidnapped, forcibly converted and married off

In Lahore, Pakistan, a report alleges a 14-year-old Christian girl with health challenges was kidnapped, forcibly converted and married by a 41-year-old man. The family disputes official documents claiming consent, and legal action has been filed seeking recovery and investigation

Islamabad: A 41-year-old married Muslim man kidnapped a 14-year-old Christian girl suffering from epilepsy and mental health challenges in Lahore, forcibly converted her to Islam and married her while exploiting her health condition, a report has revealed.

Abbas Masih, a daily wage labourer and member of a local Brethren church in Lahore’s Gulbahar Colony, said his daughter, Nisha Bibi, who worked as a domestic helper at a Muslim household did not return home from work on May 12, Christian Daily International reported.

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“When Nisha did not return home from work, we went to her employer’s house, where we were told that she had already left,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Masih said that he contacted the police after he was unable to find her. He said that police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) for abduction after CCTV footage obtained from the employer’s residence showed Nisha leaving with an unidentified middle-aged man. He said the family also tried to identify the man by sharing a screenshot taken from the CCTV footage among residents in the area where his daughter worked.

“A woman employed in a house opposite my daughter’s workplace immediately recognised the man as her 41-year-old husband, Arshad Habib,” he said. The woman mentioned that Habib had disappeared the same day along with their two minor children without informing her.

Masih said that his daughter is suffering from epilepsy and faces mental health challenges and her health condition made her an easy target, Christian Daily International reported. He further said, We later learned that the accused had already been married three times and has children from those marriages.”

According to him, police later showed the family documents claiming that Nisha had converted to Islam on February 15 and married Habib after three days.

We were shocked to see an alleged conversion certificate and marriage documents presented as proof that my daughter willingly converted and married the accused,” said Masih. He stated that these documents appear to have been fabricated to protect Habib from criminal prosecution.

The family’s lawyer, Zunara Patrick, said Habib had allegedly maintained several marriages simultaneously. The legal team, said Patrick, found Habib in Rahim Yar Khan district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, where he was allegedly staying with Nisha and two children he had taken from his third wife.

Patrick said that she has filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of his third wife seeking recovery of her two children and has nominated Habib as the principal suspect in Nisha’s kidnapping case. According to Patrick, Habib has prepared fabricated legal documents to mislead investigators.

“A statement purportedly submitted before a magistrate in Lahore on March 2 claims that Nisha is 18 years old, converted to Islam voluntarily and married Habib of her own free will,” said Patrick while rejecting the authenticity of the statement and accused Habib of using religion to avoid accountability.

Earlier in April, a report revealed that police in Pakistan have refused to recover a 15-year-old Christian girl, who was kidnapped at gunpoint, forcibly converted to Islam and married to the kidnapper, according to her father.

Afzal Javed Masih of Jaranwala city of Pakistan’s Punjab province said that his daughter, Sidra Bibi, was abducted from their home by a Muslim man named Ali Murtaza, and his two accomplices on March 27. He added that the men entered the house by climbing the wall and abducted Sidra at gunpoint, Christian Daily International reported.

Masih said police lodged the case, however, they inaccurately mentioned Sidra Bibi’s age as 17-years-old instead of 15 which is stated on her official birth certificate. He added, “I am illiterate and only learned of this discrepancy later, when a rights activist pointed it out.”

He said that police initially arrested relatives of the suspect, however, they were later released after documents surfaced claiming that Sidra Bibi had converted to Islam and had willingly married Murtaza Ali in Rahim Yar Khan district in Punjab.