Abduction of Hindu girls in Pakistan: Will seek a report, says MEA Sushma Swaraj

Swaraj-sushma-unga External Affairs Ministers Minister Sushma Swaraj addresses the 73rd United Nations General Assembly | AFP

Days after news broke of the abduction and forcible conversion of two underage Hindu girls in Pakistan's Sindh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said she will seek a report from the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan. I have asked Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan to send a report on this, Swaraj wrote on Twitter.

The parents of the girls, Reena and Raveena, said they were 'abducted' on the eve of Holi. However, according to the publication, the Karachi police said the duo claimed they embraced Islam under no pressure and that they left home of their own accord.

ALSO READ: 'Missing' Hindu girls 'embrace' Islam in Pakistan


Authored by Kamal Siddiqi, a former editor of the Express Tribune, a 2017 article had claimed that the manner in which the Hindu community is being treated in Sindh province is and should be a matter of shame for all Pakistanis.

"In present day Pakistan, Hindu women are under constant danger of being kidnapped and then converted to Islam, forcing the hapless woman to break all ties with their families and live the rest of their lives in an alien environment, married to a stranger. Such criminal incidents are unfortunately presented in Pakistan as a good deed under the garb of religion," Siddiqi says in his article.

Narrating events surrounding such incidents, Siddiqi says once a girl is kidnapped, her family runs from pillar to post to get information about her whereabouts, even as the state machinery works in favour of the kidnappers. After much to and fro, an FIR is lodged, but by that time, the Pir in Dargah Bharchundi has already issued a "conversion certificate" and married off the couple. So, when the police finally "locates" the couple to present them in court, all the legal formalities have been completed.

The Sindh Assembly's Forced Conversion Bill, a private bill jointly moved by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (F) lawmakers, was passed unanimously on November 24, 2016. However, under pressure from lawmakers, the governor was asked not to ratify the bill. 

-Inputs from ANI

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