A federal court in Pakistan on February 3rd granted custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Shahbaz, to a Muslim man who had kidnapped her, converted her to Islam, and ‘married’ her.
Judges rejected the birth certificate Maria’s parents provided, which proved her age. Furthermore, the judges disregarded earlier judicial findings that the marriage was illegal, Safdar Chaudhry, chairperson of rights group Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry, told Christian Daily International–Morning Star News.
The ruling devastated Maria’s parents. The girl’s father, Shahbaz Masih, is a driver and father of five. He said that his neighbor, Shehryar Ahmad, abducted Maria on July 29th when she stepped outside their home to go to a nearby shop. Since then, her family has repeatedly sought judicial intervention to recover her.
Such cases follow a recurring pattern. Every year in Pakistan, an estimated 1,000 girls and young women from religious minorities (many of whom are Christians) face abduction, rape, forced marriage to their much older abductors, coerced conversion to Islam, and various other forms of abuse. Victims are as young as seven and include girls with disabilities. Families often never see their loved ones again because the police rarely act and the courts frequently fail victims. Survivors endure shame, PTSD, and social stigma in Pakistan’s honor-based culture.
Pakistan is ranked number 8 in the 2026 World Watch List of Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution worldwide. The organization wrote,
Christian women are also targeted with acid attacks, workplace harassment, blasphemy allegations, and honor killings … Many remain trapped in debt-bonded labor, such as brick kilns, where they face additional sexual violence and exploitation … Politicians deny that it is necessary to protect religious minority girls from abductions and forced conversion/marriage.
Open Doors adds that Christian men are also severely persecuted.
Christian men in Pakistan live under the constant threat of blasphemy allegations, false imprisonment, torture, and execution. Murders are common if men are accused of insulting Islam, while entire families suffer the fallout of false charges. Christian men and boys are compelled to take low-status or hazardous jobs, often labelled ‘Chura’ (filthy), or trapped in bonded labor …. Some conceal their faith to avoid losing jobs or facing charges. Reports of sexual abuse of boys are rising, with victims silenced by fear and shame.”
Christian children in Pakistan also cannot escape persecution:
In small towns and remote villages, Christian children have to attend Islamic teaching at the local madrassa (Islamic schools) while Christian teaching is restricted to Sunday services. Christian parents try to prevent their children from speaking about their faith since they could be pressured to ‘come back’ to Islam. At school, Christian children are often not allowed to use the same water fountain as their Muslim classmates to avoid ‘defiling’ the drinking water. Children are often bullied, and many are asked to clean the latrines or sweep the floor, as Christians are commonly perceived as being sweepers. Some schoolbooks incite hatred against Christians. The new school curriculum further Islamizes education and [teaches] children that adherents of other religions are inferior.
Pakistan’s population is 96% Muslim, the majority of which follow the Sunni tradition. There are approximately 4,785,000 Christians in the country, whose entire population is around 250 million. Christians in Pakistan comprise just 1.8% of the population and are particularly marginalized.
In 1973, Pakistan adopted an Islamic Constitution and Sharia law in its civil code. Legal and religious norms reinforce gender inequality and persecution against non-Muslims, with Christians being exposed to many challenges, including the threat of deadly violence and everyday discrimination. Christians are underrepresented in the political arena, and their views are often ignored. Adds Open Doors:
Christians are monitored by the State and increasingly by non-state actors. In workplaces, the pressure against Christians is often so great that they have to change jobs multiple times to avoid being forced to convert to Islam. No matter their qualifications, Christians are often reduced to low-level jobs. Outside of public offices, businesses and farms run by Christians are boycotted and sometimes destroyed by Muslims.
Church activities are monitored. Security guards are provided by the authorities, but they also listen, report and likely pass intelligence on to radical Islamist groups. Despite the State’s promise to protect churches, attacks are common, and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. Advocacy for oppressed minorities is seen as a challenge to the government.”
An Open Doors spokesperson told europeanconservative.com:
The U.S. government and the EU should urge the Pakistani government to create a multi-disciplinary and multi-faith trained taskforce to conduct fair and objective investigations regarding the circumstances surrounding the conversions and marriages while simultaneously providing safety to the victims to ensure their uncoerced testimony. In addition, the government of Pakistan should train judges to interpret laws in accordance with international human rights norms and legislation.”
Meanwhile, abductions, forced marriages, and forced conversions also significantly affect Hindu girls. In April 2024, United Nations (UN) experts expressed concern about the worsening pattern of forced conversions among the women and girls of Pakistan’s minority religious groups. They noted that local authorities often dismiss forced marriages, in which women and girls are obliged to convert to Islam, and that the court system likewise validates them.
The statement highlighted the case of Roshni Shakeel, another 13-year-old Christian girl, who was abducted from her family in March by a 28-year-old Muslim man and forcefully converted to Islam. Her abductor registered her age as 18. Despite Shakeel’s subsequent escape and return to her family, reports indicate that her family continued to face harassment from police, who arrested her father, detained him for three days, and beat him to coerce him into revealing his daughter’s location.
These abuses have been ongoing for decades. In 2020, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches submitted a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the abduction, religious conversion, and forced marriage of minors from minority religious groups in Pakistan. In it, the two organizations called on Pakistan to take measures to protect children and women, one of which was to
[e]radicate forced marriage and related harmful practices; carry out prompt and effective investigations of all reported cases and prosecute those responsible; treat alleged religious conversion connected to forced marriage as [a] prima facie indicator of forced marriage; ensure that victims are provided with appropriate remedies and rehabilitation services.
Sadly, this call, as well as other recommendations from many organizations, has fallen on deaf ears in Pakistan.
Pakistani Court Gives Muslim Kidnapper Custody of 13-Year-Old Christian Girl
A drawing of a bride and groom made by a Syrian refugee girl during a discussion about child marriage. The female character is dreaming of a building with a sign above it that says ‘school’; the man is thinking of a building that says ‘home’.
Russell Watkins/Department for International Development, Crown Copyright/Open Government License via Creative Commons
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A federal court in Pakistan on February 3rd granted custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Shahbaz, to a Muslim man who had kidnapped her, converted her to Islam, and ‘married’ her.
Judges rejected the birth certificate Maria’s parents provided, which proved her age. Furthermore, the judges disregarded earlier judicial findings that the marriage was illegal, Safdar Chaudhry, chairperson of rights group Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry, told Christian Daily International–Morning Star News.
The ruling devastated Maria’s parents. The girl’s father, Shahbaz Masih, is a driver and father of five. He said that his neighbor, Shehryar Ahmad, abducted Maria on July 29th when she stepped outside their home to go to a nearby shop. Since then, her family has repeatedly sought judicial intervention to recover her.
Such cases follow a recurring pattern. Every year in Pakistan, an estimated 1,000 girls and young women from religious minorities (many of whom are Christians) face abduction, rape, forced marriage to their much older abductors, coerced conversion to Islam, and various other forms of abuse. Victims are as young as seven and include girls with disabilities. Families often never see their loved ones again because the police rarely act and the courts frequently fail victims. Survivors endure shame, PTSD, and social stigma in Pakistan’s honor-based culture.
Pakistan is ranked number 8 in the 2026 World Watch List of Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution worldwide. The organization wrote,
Open Doors adds that Christian men are also severely persecuted.
Christian children in Pakistan also cannot escape persecution:
Pakistan’s population is 96% Muslim, the majority of which follow the Sunni tradition. There are approximately 4,785,000 Christians in the country, whose entire population is around 250 million. Christians in Pakistan comprise just 1.8% of the population and are particularly marginalized.
In 1973, Pakistan adopted an Islamic Constitution and Sharia law in its civil code. Legal and religious norms reinforce gender inequality and persecution against non-Muslims, with Christians being exposed to many challenges, including the threat of deadly violence and everyday discrimination. Christians are underrepresented in the political arena, and their views are often ignored. Adds Open Doors:
An Open Doors spokesperson told europeanconservative.com:
Meanwhile, abductions, forced marriages, and forced conversions also significantly affect Hindu girls. In April 2024, United Nations (UN) experts expressed concern about the worsening pattern of forced conversions among the women and girls of Pakistan’s minority religious groups. They noted that local authorities often dismiss forced marriages, in which women and girls are obliged to convert to Islam, and that the court system likewise validates them.
The statement highlighted the case of Roshni Shakeel, another 13-year-old Christian girl, who was abducted from her family in March by a 28-year-old Muslim man and forcefully converted to Islam. Her abductor registered her age as 18. Despite Shakeel’s subsequent escape and return to her family, reports indicate that her family continued to face harassment from police, who arrested her father, detained him for three days, and beat him to coerce him into revealing his daughter’s location.
These abuses have been ongoing for decades. In 2020, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches submitted a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the abduction, religious conversion, and forced marriage of minors from minority religious groups in Pakistan. In it, the two organizations called on Pakistan to take measures to protect children and women, one of which was to
Sadly, this call, as well as other recommendations from many organizations, has fallen on deaf ears in Pakistan.
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