Hindu woman, teenage girls abducted, forcibly converted in Pakistan

A woman and two teenage girls belonging to the Hindu community were kidnapped with two of them forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan.

A woman and two teenage girls belonging to the Hindu community have been kidnapped with two of them forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men in Pakistan’s Sindh province, the latest in a string of such atrocities committed against members of the minority community.

Meena Meghwar, 14, was abducted from the Nasarpur area and another teenage Hindu girl was kidnapped while returning home from the market in Mirpurkhas town, police said.

In the third instance, a married Hindu woman with three children went missing from Mirpurkhas and later showed up after allegedly converting to Islam and marrying a Muslim man.

In the last case, police have refused to register an FIR on the complaint of the woman’s husband Ravi Kurmi who says she was forcibly abducted and converted to Islam by their neighbour Ahmed Chandio who used to harass her wife.

A local police officer in Mirpurkhas said all three cases are being investigated.

The officer, however, said married woman Rakhi claims she converted and married the Muslim man of her own will.

The abduction and forcible conversion of young Hindu girls have become a major problem in the interior of Sindh province which has a large Hindu population in Thar, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Ghotki and Khairpur areas. Most of the Hindu community members are labourers.