In February 2020, Morning Star News reported that “a high court ruling in Pakistan validating the marriage and forced conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old Christian girl [Huma Younos] has heightened fears that it will encourage others to commit such crimes, sources said.”
And now here we are: the case of Myra Shehbaz is nearly identical to that of Huma Younos.
The Qur’an says “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). However, what constitutes “compulsion” is in the eye of the beholder. The institutionalized subjugation of the dhimma, with its regular humiliation and harassment, from which one can be freed for the simple price of converting to Islam, is not considered compulsion. Remember Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the journalists who were kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam — even though their conversions were obviously coerced, their captors made them say that they were converting freely, and the captors probably believed that themselves. After all, the journos could have chosen to be killed instead.
“14-year-old Christian girl abducted, converted to Islam and married off to her abductor in Pakistan,” OpIndia, May 9, 2020:
A 14-year-old Christian girl, Myra Shehbaz, was abducted in Faislabad [sic] in Pakistan by Muhammad Naqash and his accomplice while she was travelling to her workplace in April 2020, reported Forbes.
Eye witness accounts by Pervez Masih, Younas Masih, and Naeem Masih state that Myra was forcibly abducted in a car while she resisted. The men were armed and as such the eyewitnesses could not help the victim. The accused also fired shots in the air. Speaking to International Christian Concern, her mother, Nighat, expressed fears of rape, forceful conversion to Islam, and even murder. She was indeed married off to her abductor and forcibly converted.
While Myra’s marriage certificate stated her age as 18, it contradicted her National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) certificate. As a part of the modus operandi, a typed statement that she had left her home willingly was also produced. The case is yet to be taken to the Court.
Persecution of religious MinoritiesMovement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP) has estimated that about 1000 Christian and Hindu women between 12 and 25 years are abducted, raped, married, and forced to convert to Islam. Due to limited financial means of the families of such victims, many cases go unreported.
On October 10 last year, another 14-year-old Huma Younus was abducted from her parents’ home in Karachi by a Muslim man named Abdul Jabbar, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab. Farzana (14), and Sehrish (16) were gang-raped by 3 Muslim men but the families were forced to settle the matter outside the Court. In the case of Sana John (13) and Mehwish (14) who were abducted by Muslims, the police conducted a botched investigation and no attempts were made to rescue them. A 11-year-old Christian girl named Maria Sarfraz was also gang-raped for 3 days but was forced to settle the matter outside.
Justice DeniedJustice is rare in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In most cases, such abducted women never get to reunite with their families. In the case of Huma Yunus, a Pakistan Court upheld her marriage and forced conversion to Islam, despite her being underage. The case will now proceed to the Supreme Court.
Lack of proper investigation, prosecution of the accused, and denial of the right to the reunification of such abducted victims with their guardians make the victims an easy and vulnerable prey to the Islamic predators. It must be reiterated that every child deserves a normal childhood….