Pakistan Conversions
Forced conversion still remains an irritant for Pakistan: Report
Islamabad: Experts have voiced their concerns that Pakistan is still witnessing hundreds of annual cases of forced conversions of mostly underage non-Muslim girls to Islam in the country.
The South Asia Partnership-Pakistan and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) have maintained at least 1,000 women and girls from other faiths are forcibly converted to Islam every year in Pakistan, reports Zenger.
The Hindu community girls faced the atrocities in large numbers.
And, the most conversions take place in Sindh, where the majority of up to 8 million local Hindus live. Rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned forced conversions in Pakistan, Zenger reported.
It is to be noted that Pakistan’s Constitution bars conversion from Islam to other religions.
Ramesh Vankwani, the patron-in-chief of Pakistan Hindu Council, who presented the forced conversion bill via the Child Marriage Restraint Act (Amendment) Bill 2019 and the Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Act 2019 in the National Assembly, urged the government to establish the minimum age to change religion at 18.
“When we say ‘forced’ conversion, it is because of the age,” Vankwani told Zenger News. “Once the age has been set at 18, no one will call it forced.”
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