Arzoo’s case exposes stark light of forced conversions in Pakistan

By Hamza Ameer Lahore, Dec 28 : Forced conversions of Hindu and Christians girls have been more or less a routine case as the matter continues to stay on the backburner of the current ruling government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who instead, opts to claim success over Pakistan being a free for all religions country.
However, the recent case of the 13-year-old Arzoo Raja, the Christian girl who was forcibly kidnapped, converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man, sheds a glaring light on the issue of forced conversions and child marriages.
Arzoo’s case has attracted media glare, social media debates and has been among the top and biggest stories of the year 2020, which has highlighted on the gaps in the system, that continues to give leverage to such practices and keeps lives of young girls, at high risk.
Arzoo’s case may be the last in the list of young Christian and Hindu girls who have gone through the ordeal. But there are many cases that are continuing in parallel to Arzoo’s case and being heart in the Pakistani courts.
Neha Pervaiz, a young girl, who was abducted from Karachi’s Ittehad town on April 28, 2019, was underage when she was forcibly converted and married off to a Muslim man Imran.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued arrest warrants of cleric Qazi Mufti Ahmed Jaan Raheemi for performing the marriage, the husband Muhammad Imran and his relatives Muhammad Rehan Baloch, Sundus and Azra.