Islamabad, Jan 16 (IANS) A federal court in Pakistan has ordered the police to find and present a 13-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped, converted and forcibly married to a Muslim man, local media reported.

A two-judge bench of Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has ordered police to present Maria Shahbaz and 30-year-old Shehryar Ahmad in court. Supreme Court Attorney Rana Abdul Hameed said that Ahmad abducted Maria Shahbaz on July 29 last year, forcibly converted her to Islam and married her, Christian Daily International reported. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Karim Khan Agha admitted the petition filed by Maria's father, Shahbaz Masih.

“After our petitions for the child’s recovery were rejected by the sessions court in Lahore and the Lahore High Court, we decided to challenge those decisions before the FCC, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News quoted Hameed as saying.

"We informed the court that the girl is a minor and is being subjected to rape under the guise of Islamic conversion and marriage," Hameed said.

According to Hameed, Lahore police colluded with the suspect, resulting in magistrate court discharging the complaint of girl's family. He said, "The girl was forced to record a statement claiming she had willingly converted to Islam and married Ahmad."

"She also falsely stated that she was an adult, despite official documentary evidence proving that she is a minor and below the legal age of marriage under provincial child marriage laws, which prohibit the marriage of girls under 16," Christian Daily International-Morning Star News quoted Hameed as saying.

Shahbaz Masih, a driver and father of five, said that his neighbour, Ahmad, kidnapped his daughter when she was going to a nearby shop from her home. Masih registered a First Information Report (FIR) with Nawab Town Police Station in Lahore. However, police told him that Maria had recorded a statement on July 31, 2025, before Model Town Judicial Magistrate Hassan Sarfaraz Cheema claiming she had willingly converted to Islam and married Ahmad.

A report in Christian Daily International stated, "Rights advocates say such cases follow a familiar pattern in Pakistan, where kidnapped girls, some as young as 10, are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and raped under the cover of Islamic 'marriages.' Victims are often pressured to record false statements in favour of their abductors, while judges routinely ignore documentary evidence of age and return the children to their kidnappers as 'legal wives'."

Meanwhile, a report has stated that religious minorities in Pakistan face systemic discrimination and entrapment in fabricated blasphemy allegations, mob violence, targetted killings, land grabbing, forced conversions, arbitrary detention, and damage to property, including places of worship.

On December 26, a 15-year-old Hindu girl, Premi Bhil was abducted from Sindh province, forcibly converted to Islam, renamed Kulsoom Sheikh, and married to a man over 30 years old who was already married. On December 6, 2025, a Hindu woman and her minor daughter were kidnapped by armed men from Karachi's Sher Shah area, according to a report in Sri Lanka Guardian.

Similarly, on December 5, 2025, a Pastor, Kamran Salamat, was shot dead by armed men in Punjab's Gujranwala. This was the second targetted attack on Kamran Salamat, who was previously shot in September last year, and faced injuries in the leg.

On October 10, 2025, an Ahmadi place of worship, Bait-ul-Mehdi, was targetted during Friday prayers in Punjab province's Chinab Nagar, which injured at least six worshippers. As many as 80 Christian families were attacked by a mob in Punjab's Sahiwal on August 8, 2025. Subsequently, many victims were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and faced Police brutality.

A report in Sri Lanka Guardian stated, "According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom's Annual Report, 2025, out of Pakistan's estimated population of 252 million, 96.5 per cent are Muslim (85-90 per cent Sunni and 10-15 per cent Shia) and just 3.5 per cent identify with other religious communities, including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs."

"Religious minorities in Pakistan face systemic discrimination and suffer harassment, entrapment in fabricated blasphemy allegations, physical assault, lynching, mob violence, targeted killings, land grabbing, forced conversions, arbitrary detention, and destruction of property, including their places of worship and cemeteries," it added.

--IANS

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