Pakistan’s forced conversions shame Imran Khan

The parents of Suntara Kohli, Bhagwanti Kohli, Aisha Megwad and Priyanka Kumari continue their protests against the abductions and forced conversions of their daughters. The four Hindu girls were among seven cases of forced conversion in Pakistan reported by local newspapers last week alone. Suntara, Bhagwanti and Aisha are still teenagers; the former only 15. But their stories are far from exceptional here.

At least 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam in the country annually, according to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report. Many of these girls belong to the Hindu community in Sindh, where most of Pakistan’s eight million Hindus live. Locals claim that such abductions are so common they affect ‘every other family‘, with a vast majority of those targeted underage. Some victims are as young as 12 years old. 

And yet where is the law dedicated to curtailing the relentless spree of forced conversions? Two such bills, tabled in 2016 and then 2019, were shot down.