Pakistan’s justice 'in reverse': police arrest father of 13-year-old Christian girl abducted and converted
In Multan, Roshani Shakeel was the victim of a forced marriage last March. The human rights violation was possible because of the complicity of local authorities and the imam who facilitated the conversion. “They are torturing our family,” the girl’s mother told AsiaNews. For activist Joseph Jansen, “This systemic failure must be addressed”.
Multan (AsiaNews) – Shakeel Masih was asking for justice. Instead, the father of Roshani Shakeel, a 13-year-old Christian girl abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and given in marriage against her will in March, was taken into custody last Friday and held for three days on the order of Judge Farooq Latif.
Such an episode represents yet again justice "in reverse”, another human rights violation in Pakistan, where being part of a religious minority continues to be a serious risk factor for one's own safety and that of loved ones.
Roshani was taken from her family on 13 March. With the complicity of an imam, local authorities facilitated her conversion, falsely registering her as an 18-year-old, and renaming her Zehra Bibi.
She was married to Muazzam Mazher, and the union registered as consensual by local officials, effectively handing her over to her captor. Eventually, the girl managed to escape after hearing her captor talk about plans to sell her.
Although she was reunited with her family, the trauma of the story continues. In fact, the behaviour of Multan police, apparently hounding the father without prosecuting the kidnapper, is disconcerting.
Reports indicate that Shakeel Masih was beaten in an attempt to coerce him into revealing his daughter's whereabouts while he was unjustly detained.
“My husband has been detained for the last three days,” said Nazia Bibi, Masih's wife, speaking to AsiaNews. “The police are torturing our family, including my husband's brothers, and have lodged false FIRs[*] against us. The reason is to refrain us from raising our voice to obtain justice for our daughter.”
Minority Christians face a tragic fate, angry at the authorities who should guarantee their protection.
For Roshani’s mother, “The Muslim family is behaving like Roshani is their property. They abduct her again and again, and police are cooperating with them. I humbly request, human rights institutions to speak out for our daughter and our family, we are poor we cannot fight them.”
“Child marriages and the sexual exploitation of underage girls from religious minorities are often validated by the courts,” said Joseph Janse, a minority rights advocate, who slammed police for their action.
Judges “misuse religious law to keep victims with their abductors instead of reuniting them with their families,” he added. “This systemic failure must be addressed to protect the rights and dignity of our most vulnerable children.”
International experts, including representatives from the United Nations, have called on Pakistani authorities to enact and enforce laws that ensure that marriage takes place only with the free and full consent of both parties. They call for raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 and implementing measures to protect children's rights.
“The Pakistani government must take immediate action to safeguard the rights of vulnerable children and eliminate practices that undermine their dignity and potential,” the experts stated.
This case is a reminder of the urgent need for systemic change in Pakistan's approach to protecting the rights of religious minorities and safeguarding the well-being of its children.
[*] First Information Reports.
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