A thousand minority girls, women abducted, converted to Islam, married off in Pak every year: Report

Over a thousand minor girls and women from Pakistan's religious minorities including Hindus and Christians are abducted, forcefully converted to Islam and are married off every year, revealed a new report.

Citing an inquiry done by British-led All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), Islam Khabar reported that the figure is an estimation based on extensive probe, but not accurate since "true numbers may never be ascertained."

The report, which was published in September 2021 focuses on the cases of Christian and Hindu girls between the ages of 12-25, of religious minorities including Hindus (1.59 per cent) and Christians (1.60 per cent) of Pakistan's 220 million population, Islam Khabar reported.

Buddhists, Sikhs and Kalash are also surveyed with the help of their representative bodies, field surveys and by individuals who appeared before the probe body.

Islam Khabar reported that the APPG report urges the Pakistan government agency National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to build data to be used by police and the court to determine the age of the minors and not subject to "intrusive" medical tests that cannot determine the precise age.

The report further noted that the overwhelming number of cases are among the poor and mostly illiterate, of women from the lowest social strata, often the neglected and the discriminated sections, mostly engaged in domestic or lowly economic jobs. They are vulnerable to exploitation, violence, bullying, pressures and false promises.

Such cases of crime against minorities have been increasing steadily in recent years in Pakistan, as per the report. The cases of forced conversion have gone up since Pakistan's birth in 1947, as per the report cited by Islam Khabar.

The plight of women in Pakistan is increasing day by day as a fresh report has stated that nearly 6,754 women were abducted in the country's Punjab province in the first half of 2021.

Out of that, 1,890 women were raped, 3,721 were tortured whereas 752 children were raped, Duniya News reported.

On August 30, the Board of Trustees of Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) expressed concerns over increasing attacks on women in the country.

In Islamabad, there were nearly 34 official incidents of rape while 27 incidents were reported in the media. The number of official incidents of violence recorded in Punjab was 3,721, but only 938 cases were reported in the media, Dunya News said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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