Christian activists in Pakistan are calling on the country's government to take strict action against the perpetrators involved in the abduction and forced conversion of girls from the minority communities.
In the last seven years, at least 160 girls from Pakistan's Christian and Hindu community were kidnapped, converted to Islam and married to an older man.
The activists want the Pakistan government to recover those girls and punish all the perpetrators for forcibly taking the girls and converting them against her will.
In late November, three men seized 14-year-old Huma Younus in her house when her parents were out. She was kidnapped, converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man in Karachi.
To address the issue, the presidents of Pakistan's Senate and National Assembly set up a Parliamentary Commission for Protection from Forced Conversions in November.
Minorities in Pakistan hope the commission will take necessary actions to prevent abduction and forced conversions of girls.
Peter Jacob, Executive Director of the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) said, "CSJ has recorded 16 cases of women who have requested the support of the Sindh High Court. The analysis of these cases reveals a wide spectrum of legal loopholes, procedural irregularities, and social-cultural factors that leave criminals unpunished. All of this must be taken into consideration in the work of the parliamentary commission."
