Christian girl kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted is freed

 Shalet Javet testified to  Lahore High Court against her captor. She is ready "to do it again and again until he is jailed". The 15 year old was used as a sex slave. "It is not true that I converted to Islam by my own choice," she says bravely.

Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Shalet Javed, the 15-year-old Christian girl kidnapped, sold and given in marriage to a Muslim man after being focibly converted, has been saved from the hands of her tormentor. 

In tears but with great courage, she stood before the high court judge of Lahore and told her terrible story of torture and repeated rapes. Through the British Pakistani Christian Association (Bpca) volunteer who is following her case, she said: "It is not true that I converted to Islam by my choice, I was forced under threat. I never gave up hope. I kept praying to God and I begged him to free me from my humiliating bondage ".

The story of the 15 year old Shalet dates back to March 25th. The girl lives in the village of Dhandra, in the district of Faisalabad. After a fight with a sibling, she left home and sought refuge with a family friend, Ms. Goshi (36), who she considers an aunt and lives in Salam Pura (a few km from her village). 

In the evening, when her mother Tasleem (35 years old) returned home and did not find her daughter, she started the search. Goshi denies ever having met the young woman, but faced with Tasleem's insistence that she would report everything to the police, she admitted that the girl was with another lady named Rukhsana (42). 

The latter confessed that she sold the young Christian to Rafel, a 28-year-old Muslim known to the authorities for trafficking in women. The following week, the family received a letter containing the Islamic wedding certificate (Nikkah) of her daughter with a Muslim named Zafar Iqbal.

Thanks to pressure from the NPC Bpca, the police - reluctantly at first - recorded the complaint and begin the investigation. At three o'clock in the morning on April 10th, the agents carried out a raid on Zafar's home, but discovered that the man had managed to escape before the police arrived thanks to a tip-off. However, the Muslim's hurray allowed the young Shalet to take advantage of his distraction and escape.

The young woman said she managed to escape, then asked a passerby to make a phone call with her cell phone. So she called his parents Tasleem and Javed Masih who immediately rushed to her aid. She said to the magistrate: "I was used as a sex slave tortured and brutalized to satisfy my husband. I thought my life was lost, until I had the chance to escape”.

Thanking the activists helping her she added: "God has listened to my prayers and now I'm back with my mother and father. I am so grateful to the Lord. I was violated and abused by my captor, but he did not destroy my spirit. I have spoken in court and will testify again and again, until the monster is jailed. He must never do what he did to me to anyone else".

Wilson Chowdhry, president of the BPCA, stresses: "The case of Shalet reveals the truth about Muslim rapists: that is, it is a terrible insinuation when they say that Christian girls convert voluntarily. Her reliance on God unconditionally and her faith despite adversity is a testament to all of us ".

• Pakistan
• forced conversions
• girls
• British Pakistani Christian Association
• religious freedom