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(OPINION) Human rights organizations assess that, each year, around 1,000 religious minority (Christian and Hindu) women and girls are kidnapped and forced to convert and marry Muslim men in Pakistan. This estimate of the number of victims may be even higher as many cases remain unreported, often due to the limited financial means of the girls’ families.

The story of Farah Shaheen is one of them. Reportedly, Farah Shaheen, a 12-year-old Christian girl, was kidnapped from Faisalabad in June 2020 and abused by three men who chained her to a cattle pen. They claimed that she married one of her abductors of her own will. However, her family tells a different story. Farah spent months enslaved by one of the abductors, a 29-year-old Muslim man. He is alleged to have raped, shackled, and forced her to work in inhumane conditions. 

Farah was rescued by police in December 2020. She had cuts from the shackles around her ankles. Yet the Police have dropped an investigation, as Farah allegedly testified to marrying her abductor and converting to Islam. Her parents accuse the police of fabricating the evidence. The documents reportedly include suggestions that she was 16 or 17, and not 12 (as is her true age at the time of alleged abduction, marriage and conversion, as confirmed by her birth certificate). Farah’s parents continue the fight for justice. 

Considering the number of similar cases, there is little hope that religious minority victims of abductions, forcible conversion and forced marriages will get justice. The police and justice systems continue to neglect cases of religious minority women and girls who are abducted, forcibly converted, forcibly married and abused by their abductors. This fuels an environment where these crimes continue to take place. For example, the family of Huma Younus, 14 at the time of abduction, have worked tirelessly trying to get her back. In her case, the court “dismissed a petition to have the marriage and forced conversion of a Catholic girl overturned”, stating that a girl is ready to marry after she has had her first period.

Another 14-year-old girl, Myra Shehbaz, faced a similar fate. Her family also took to the courts. Initially, the Sessions Court in Faisalabad directed that the girl be rehabilitated in a woman’s shelter. However, the Lahore High Court later overturned the decision and ordered that the 14-year-old girl be returned to her abductor. She has since escaped. Most recently, there is the case of Saneha Kinza Iqbal, a 15-year-old girl who was also abducted, forcibly converted and married to a man twice her age. Her family has been trying to get her back with assistance from Faisalabad Police, however, they have been unsuccessful.

The issue requires urgent attention. As reported in December 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered an investigation into religious minority girls' forced conversions. However, this inquiry, launched in 2019, appears to look at two cases in isolation. One would expect more commitment and action from Prime Minister Khan. 

In light of his inaction, British politicians have announced their own inquiry into the issue that will aim to identify what the Pakistani government should be doing to respond. They will propose steps to be taken by both the U.K. and Pakistani government to put an end to the barbaric practice of abduction, forced conversions and forced marriages. Religious minority women and girls cannot be left behind.

Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission.