Coerced religious conversion in Pakistan: Difference between revisions

In Pakistan, people belonging to the minority Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities are often kidnapped and forcefully converted or coerced through societal pressures to convert to Islam.^[1][2] Jürgen Schaflechner, a cultural anthropologist specializing on Hindus in Pakistan, cautions that these conversions are rarely motivated by religious zeal, and are instead a consequence of the commodification of women, and of denying agency to women in a deeply patriarchal society.^[3]

Causes

Islamic institutions and clerics in some areas are alleged to have been involved in these forced conversions.^[4][5][6][7]

Some coerced conversions are results of kidnappings or violent threats while others are due to the systemic discrimination that many Hindus face in their professional, public, and private lives, and conversion is seen by many as a way to avoid religious discrimination and violence.^[8]

According to some child protection activists, the forced conversion of young girls is part of a moneymaking scheme involving corrupt public and religious figures who allow underaged girls to be converted to islam and married to older men in exchange for money.^[9]

Notable incidents

In May 2007, Christian citizens of Charsadda (a city which is close to the border with Afghanistan) reported that they had received letters threatening violent attacks if they did not convert to Islam, and that the police were not taking the threats seriously.^[10]

In April 2012 three Hindu sisters were allegedly threatened into converting to Islam.^[11][12][13] their cases were appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, where the appeal was admitted but has remained unheard.^[14]

Hindus may convert to Islam in order to acquire Watan Cards ^{[clarification needed]} and National Identification Cards. Some converts are also given land and money. ^[15]

Consequences

A survey conducted by a

According to Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, around 5,000 Hindus migrate from Pakistan to India every year due to fear of forced conversions.^[17] The Pakistan Hindu Council says that forced conversions are the primary reason for the declining Hindu population in Pakistan.^[5]

Legality

Pakistan does not have strong laws designed to prevent coerced religious conversion, which has drawn criticism for allowing coerced conversions to go largely unpunished. ^[18]

In November 2016, a bill prohibiting forced conversion was passed by the Sindh Provisional Assembly however, the Governor of Sindh faced pressure from muslim groups not to sign the bill, leading to it not becoming a law.^[19] In 2020 a bill aimed at preventing coerced conversions was introduced in the Senate of Pakistan that could prevent forced conversions of minority girls, but it was turned down by the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. Krishna Kumari Kolhi, a Hindu Pakistan Peoples Party Senator, walked out of the Senate during the meeting as a form of protest.^[20]

Response

The Pakistani Nobel Laurette Malala Yousafzai spoke against forced conversions in Pakistan and said "It should be a personal choice and no one, especially a child shouldn’t be forced to accept any faith or convert to any other religion out of the will,"^[21] The Pakistani Prime minister Imran Khan has said that forced conversions are 'un-Islamic'^[22] and are against the commands of Allah.^[23]

Candice Bergen, the Deputy Leader of Conservative Party of Canada, has commented that "The reports coming out of Pakistan of Christian and Hindu girls being abducted, raped, forced into marriages and coerced to convert from their faith are deeply concerning and need to be addressed". She also called for the re-establishment of Office of Religious Freedom in Canada to address the issue.^[24]

In January 2023, experts from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed their alarm at the reported rise in kidnappings, coerced religious conversions and wedding of underaged females from among religious minorities in Pakistan.^[25] They appealed the Government of Pakistan to stop the alleged abuse where people in their teens had been “kidnapped from their families, trafficked … far from their homes (and) made to marry men sometimes twice their age”.^[26]

See also

• Asia Bibi blasphemy case
• Freedom of religion in Pakistan
• Religion in Pakistan

References