“When asked by her father if she could leave her abductor’s house and return to her parents’ home, she told him that she is not allowed to leave the house and that her life has become still more difficult,” Yousaf explained. “She is now imprisoned within the walls of one room.”

Younus was taken from her home on the 10th of October 2019, at the age of fourteen, and later forcibly married to a radical Muslim man named Abdul Jabbar. She was also forced to “convert” to Islam. 

Younus’ parents have declared the marriage between their daughter and her captor to be invalid because she’s not of legal age to consent to the marriage (which is eighteen) under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. According to Yousaf, Jabbar’s brother, Mukhtiar, is a member of the Pakistani security forces’ Rangers branch and has threatened to kill the teenager’s parents if they intervene. 

“This man has contacted Huma’s parents via video telephone calls and threatened them directly, showing them his weapons and telling them he would kill them if ever they should come looking for their daughter,” Yousaf said. “This same man, Mukhtiar, has added in audio messages that even if all the Christians should band together to bring Huma back, he would kill both her parents and anyone who tried to help them.”

According to the pontifical foundation, the family’s case had previously been closed by the Third Judicial Magistrate for Karachi East on the grounds of a lack of proof even though the family submitted a sworn statement from Huma’s school and a baptism certificate from St. James Church in Karachi showing the child’s date of birth was in May 2005. 

The family appealed the decision. Upon appeal, the magistrates were said to have contacted Pakistan’s official public records authority to obtain the girl’s birth certificate. The family’s appeal was set to be heard before the Sindh High Court last Monday. However, the court is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the charity, the court is unlikely to reopen until August. 

Yousaf states that the lawyer representing Jabbar is using legal maneuvers in an attempt to further delay the case. Once Younus turns eighteen, Yousaf said that it’s highly likely that the case will be halted indefinitely. Since Pakistan is a majority Muslim country, Yousaf stressed that there is a tendency for long delays for court cases involving religious minorities.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, hence every delay in reaching a judgement on the defence of the rights of religious minorities represents a denial of these rights,” Yousaf said. “The court has delayed and continues to delay justice on behalf of Huma, solely because she is an underage Christian girl.”

“As a lawyer, I am certain that the president of the Pakistani Supreme Court could grant justice to the parents of the girl and Huma herself,” Yousaf added. “However, at every other lower level of the judicial system justice for the minorities will not be possible.”

Yousaf stressed that while estimates vary, there are likely 2,000 cases per year of underage girls in Pakistan who’ve been abducted in similar circumstances as Younus. She warned that many of those cases go unreported. 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that several independent institutions “recognise that an estimated 1,000 young women are forcibly converted to Islam each year,” many of whom are “kidnapped, forcibly married, and subjected to rape.” 

Source: christianpost.com