Karachi: The threat of forced conversions and weddings of Hindu girls and women in the nation was the focus of a protest march organised by many members of Pakistan's minority Hindu community.
The protest outside the Karachi Press Club and at the entrance of the Sindh Assembly building was organised by Pakistan Darawar Ittehad (PDI), a Hindu organisation.
“We wanted to highlight this big problem facing the Sindhi Hindus, especially in the rural areas where our young girls, some as young as 12 and 13 are abducted in broad daylight, forced to convert to Islam and then married off to older Muslim men,” a member of the PDI said.
Although he acknowledged they had anticipated a larger turnout, he said the demonstration had had some influence because many people were unaware of the incident. The protest went off peacefully with a large number of policemen standing at a distance from the protesters.
The protesters carried placards and banners which urged the government to pass a stalled bill against the forced conversion of Hindu girls and women.
Such cases have increased significantly in recent months in interior Sindh, with a deluge of applications from devastated parents for justice and the return of their daughters, sisters, and wives flooding the lower courts.
Unfortunately, no representative from the provincial government came out to listen to the pleas of the protesters who dispersed peacefully.
In 2019, the issue of abducting and forcible conversion of Hindu girls in various districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly.