“Daughters of Hindus are forcibly converted to Islam,” says Danesh Kumar

Islamabad: Danesh Kumar, a Senator in Pakistan’s Upper House, has grabbed everyone’s attention during the ongoing Senate session for highlighting the forcible kidnappings and conversions of Hindu girls in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

“Daughters of Hindus are not booty if someone forcibly changes their religion. Hindu girls are forcibly converted to Islam in Sindh. It’s been two years since innocent Pooja Kumari was kidnapped. The government is not taking any action against these influential people,” Danesh said during his speech in the Senate.

He stated that the forcible abduction and conversion of Hindu girls is being done by influential people and religious groups, who enjoy the support of the political powers that continue to target religious minorities, especially Hindu minority girls.

They are kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Muslim men. Danesh said that all this is happening on the pretext that teenage Hindu girls are converting of their own free will.

“For many influential religious groups, such conversions and marriages are celebrated because they view it as a commitment to Islam. However, the teachings of Islam preach something different. The law/constitution of Pakistan does not allow forced religious conversions and neither does the Holy Quran,” he said.

Danesh has raised an issue that has haunted Pakistan for years as many global bodies have expressed serious reservations and concerns about Islamabad’s inability to end the continued suffering of religious minorities.

There have been numerous cases of girls from the minority Hindu community being forcibly abducted, converted and married off to Muslim men, most of whom were twice their age or even older.

The United Nations (UN) recently condemned Pakistan for what it called an “alarming situation” due to the continued lack of protection for young women and girls belonging to minority communities in the country.

“Christian and Hindu girls remain vulnerable to forced religious conversion, kidnapping, human trafficking, child, early and forced marriage, domestic servitude and sexual violence,” a UN statement said.

“The exposure of young women and girls belonging to minority religious communities to such heinous human rights violations and the impunity for such crimes can no longer be tolerated or justified,” it added.

Highlighting the failure of the legislature and judiciary to protect vulnerable minor girls, the UN experts have stressed that early and forced marriage cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds, adding that consent is not relevant if the victim is a child under the age of 18.

“The case is not just limited to forced conversions and marriages of Hindu girls; it is upheld by the courts, which invoke religious laws and justify keeping victims with their captors rather than allowing them to return to their parents,” said Hafeez Tunio, a local journalist from the province Sindh.

“Perpetrators often evade responsibility, with police dismissing crimes under the guise of love marriage,” he added.

While the issue of forced conversions is critical and requires immediate and urgent attention from the government, experts say the relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code are not being enforced, coupled with the Pakistani Parliament’s inability to pass further legislation to address the issue of forced conversions. and marriages of minority women and girls has further emboldened influential religious groups to continue with their cruel agenda, which they hide under the facade of religious teachings and their dissemination. (IANS)

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