Karachi: Pakistan's Sindh Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the practice of forced conversions and abductions of Hindu girls must be stopped and action be taken against those involved in such activities. The resolution - moved by Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) lawmaker Nand Kumar Goklani - was supported by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party as well as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami.
The resolution comes months after the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report in April raised concerns about incidents of forced conversions and marriages of Hindu and Christian girls, saying around 1,000 such cases were reported in the southern Sindh province alone last year.
In March, two Hindu teenage sisters - Raveena (13) and Reena (15) - were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the marriage of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage.
Introducing the resolution in the House, Kumar said that around 40 Hindu girls, mostly minors, from Badin, Thatta, Mirpurkhas, Karachi, Tando Mohammad Khan, Khairpur Mirs, Hyderabad and other areas, have been forced to convert religion in the last few months. "This assembly has passed a law against child marriages. The minor girls of our community go missing and later appear in a seminary where they tie the knot with a Muslim boy," he said, adding that all this is being done under pressure.
