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Forced conversions
[DAWN] WHEN the Sindh Assembly passed the law against forced conversion, it was hailed as a landmark piece of legislation for the protection of Sindh’s minorities. In rural Sindh, Hindu girls and women are sometimes forced by local landlords and petty thugs to ’convert’ to Islam and get married (pretty much a euphemism for kidnapping and rape). Their families complain they have no legal recourse for registering, let alone prosecuting, these crimes.On the other hand, there are Hindu girls and women who decide to marry a Moslem and convert of their own free choice. Their angry parents will register an FIR and file a case of kidnapping against the groom and his family. Women in these circumstances place advertisements in local newspapers declaring they have converted and married of their own free will. In both cases, the rights of the girls and women get trampled on by families, by authorities and by criminals. In the first instance, criminals use physical force and intimidation to harm vulnerable minorities and under-aged children; in the second, a woman’s right to choose her religion and her marriage is endangered by her own family. Both cases are egregious violations of the rights of female Pak citizens, and there has been no legal way to protect them so far. Posted by: Fred 2016-12-25 |
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