Minor Hindu girl Karishma Bheel (16) was abducted at gunpoint on 15 Feb from Khan Baksh Colony, Naukot, Mirpur Khas district, Sindh province of Pakistan. She was then taken to Gulzar-e-Khalil Sufi Peer Jan Agha Jan Sirhandi dargah in Samaro, Sindh for forced conversion to Islam and nikah (Islamic marriage).
Her parents have given a statement that armed men took her away, and an ANI report states that Karishma was abducted when she and her younger brother were out buying vegetables. As per the report, her brother said she was being harassed by one Rouf, a resident of Umerkot and his two friends. On February 15, when the siblings reached Naukot market, Rouf along with his friends forcefully took Karishma away with them, the report adds.
Karishma’s father Ramesh Bheel said that the Naukot Police only made entries in the records of missing persons and had not registered the FIR against Rouf and his friends. Bheel said that the police personnel stressed that she must have left with Rouf on ‘her own will’ and he should wait another week before a kidnapping case can be registered against the accused.
On February 19, Naukot Police called the father and gave him a copy of the certificate dated February 18 which mentioned that the girl had embraced Islam on her ‘own free will’. Police said the girl’s name has also been changed after the conversion.
As per local media sources, the name of the prime accused is Sohail Rind, a Balochi tribal – it is not clear if ‘Rouf’ is an alias. A video has emerged showing Karishma answering questions from someone about her conversion to Islam – the child’s face and eyes clearly show fear
Karishma’s documents clearly show she is just 16 years old, and thus cannot marry under Sindh’s prevention of child marriage law which sets 18 as the minimum marriage age. But this law is flouted more than it is followed – Pakistani courts have given rulings that a girl can be married once she starts menstruating. Pakistan does not have any law against forced conversion of minors. Despite some weak attempts to introduce such a law, it has always been blocked by the powerful maulana (Islamic cleric) lobby.
Her academic and other documents clearly show her date of birth as 1 March, 2006
Karishma’s beleaguered parents, from an extremely underprivileged background, and other local Hindus have been protesting in front of the Naukot police station in the hope of getting justice, but to no avail.
Conclusion
This is how the entire system in Pakistan works to normalize the abduction, rape, forced conversion and marriage of minor Hindu girls. Even though a law against child marriage exists in Sindh which prohibits marriage of girls below 18, the law is not implemented. Minor girls are forced to declare themselves adult in the dargahs which act as forced conversion centres. Poor parents often lack proper identity papers and birth certificates – which many believe the Pakistani govt. actively denies to poor Hindus to assist such crimes – and are left pleading for justice in front of a hostile police and courts.
A law against conversion of minors has been tabled in Pakistan’s legislative bodies, but has failed to pass due to pressure by the Islamist-mullah lobby.
In the rare event of such abductions being heard in courts, a standard charade unfolds. Even if a girl is declared a minor by doctors, as was the case with Chanda Maharaj, the courts refuse to hand the girl back to her parents and keep her in Dar-ul-Aman (shelter homes) till she turns major, by which time the girl is intimidated and brainwashed into going with her abductor.
Apart from a handful of human rights activists and few local media outlets in Sindh, these crimes hardly invoke any concern and attention of mainstream Pakistani public, administration, mainstream media and social media platforms in Pakistan.
