On the morning of January 5, a 13-year-old Christian girl has been abducted in Lahore Cantt, Pakistan. According to the report, filed by the girl’s father, his daughter went to buy milk in the morning but never returned home. The girl’s abductor, a local Muslim man, was well acquainted with the Christian family.

Allegedly he lured the young girl, kidnapped her, and took her to Nawabshah, Sindh. Here he forced the child to convert to Islam, then married her, despite already having a wife. The Christian girl’s family later received documents about their daughter’s conversion and marriage, where her age was falsified to seem like she is over 18. The kidnapper, to gain more legal protection for his marriage to the underage girl, filed a petition to Hyderabad Sessions Court under Section 22-A. It is said to be a common tactic of perpetrators in similar cases.

The family of the abducted girl can only hope that their daughter will be reunited with them. Chairman of The Edge Foundation, Azhar S. Malik, voiced his concerns about the current case and the many more cases of abducted underage Christian girls in the country.

“I am deeply concerned that young Christian girls are being systematically targeted, abducted, and taken away—often to different provinces—where their families have no access to them. In Saba’s case, she was taken from Lahore and transported to Nawabshah, Sindh. This pattern is deeply alarming and requires urgent attention.”

He also emphasized the role of Christian communities in raising awareness about the abductions as well as the importance of enforcing already existing laws to stop the ongoing problem.

Source: PCN