{"id":1548,"date":"2026-06-18T06:30:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T06:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2026-07-03T06:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T06:33:00","slug":"pakistan-stolen-innocence-the-abduction-and-forced-marriage-of-christian-girls-in-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/pakistan-stolen-innocence-the-abduction-and-forced-marriage-of-christian-girls-in-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"PAKISTAN: Stolen Innocence: The Abduction and Forced Marriage of Christian Girls in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Each year in Pakistan, roughly 1,000 young girls \u2014 many of whom are Christians \u2014 are kidnapped from their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These girls are often found months later, after they\u2019ve been forced to convert to Islam and marry older Muslim men. When a girl\u2019s parents attempt to claim their daughter in court, they are often unable to provide a birth certificate to prove that she is underage. As a result, the judge often grants the man custody of the girl, denying the parents any chance of seeing their daughter again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this reality is nothing new in Pakistan, stories of girls in these situations are increasingly coming to light. International Christian Concern (ICC) is helping Christian girls and their families escape these scenarios, providing safe shelter, legal support, and the care they need to break the cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are the stories of five Christian girls whose lives have been upended and threatened because of their society\u2019s acceptance of child brides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Adan Sabir<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

After Sabir rejected his marriage proposal, Usman Ali kidnapped her at gunpoint on July 3, 2025. When her parents challenged him in court, Ali presented a forged marriage certificate, claiming Sabir had converted to Islam and married him of her own free will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the judge allowed Ali to take Sabir home, Sabir\u2019s family continued fighting. They appealed to the Lahore High Court in September 2025. After examining evidence of threats and coercion, the court ordered Ali to return Sabir to her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Sabir got engaged to a Christian man. When Ali learned of her engagement, he fired gunshots at her family\u2019s home on April 20. Since then, her family has moved from place to place every few days to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdan stays silent all day, and at night she wakes up trembling and asks us to pray,\u201d Sabir\u2019s mother said. \u201cUsman keeps threatening us, saying that if he took her once, he can take her again, and this time he won\u2019t let her escape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria Shahbaz<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In July 2025, Shahbaz was kidnapped from her home, forced to convert to Islam, and married against her will. After her parents fought tirelessly to bring her back, a judge ruled against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 25, Pakistan\u2019s Federal Constitutional Court declared that Shahbaz was of \u201cmature age\u201d and could legally remain with the 40-year-old man accused of abducting her. The court validated her conversion and ruled that the marriage was governed by Islamic law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shahbaz\u2019s father told the court she was about 13 years old at the time of her abduction and presented documents to prove it. Judges deemed the records unreliable, saying her appearance suggested she was older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farah Shaheen<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Six months after 12-year-old Shaheen was taken from her Christian family in Faisalabad, Pakistan, authorities found her chained and confined to a cattle pen at the home of a 45-year-old Muslim man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man, Khizar Ahmad Ali, forced Shaheen to convert to Islam and marry him against her will. When authorities found her on Dec. 5, 2020, she had bruises and other marks on her body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer ankles and feet were wounded,\u201d Lala Robin Daniel, a local activist, told the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN). \u201cThey were bandaged at the police station. She was in trauma and couldn\u2019t talk about the torture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaheen later testified in court, likely out of fear, that she had converted to Islam and married Ali of her own free will. Her parents feared the court would grant Ali custody of their daughter. In February 2021, following an eight-month legal battle, a court ordered Shaheen to be returned to her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huma Younus<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 10, 2019, then-14-year-old Huma Younus was abducted from her home in Karachi while her parents were away. She was forced to convert to Islam and coerced into marrying her captor, Abdul Jabbar. Despite her family\u2019s desperate attempts to seek justice, the courts disregarded her suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younus\u2019 parents, devout Christians, filed a police report challenging the legitimacy of her abduction, forced conversion, and marriage. They presented school and baptismal records proving that she was only 14 years old at the time, far below the legal age for marriage under Pakistan\u2019s Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICC hosted a #JusticeforHuma petition that garnered more than 3,000 signatures, calling on Pakistan to return Younus home to her parents. Despite the outcry, the Sindh High Court shockingly ruled that since Younus had already had her first menstrual cycle, her marriage was valid under Sharia law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laiba Masih<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Masih, a 10-year-old girl from Faisalabad, was abducted by a 40-year-old man practicing polygamy with three wives. Eventually, he gave her to another man named Shoukat Shah. Laiba\u2019s parents tirelessly searched for her and eventually found her with Shah. They approached him and asked him to return their daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah declined, arguing that he had converted Masih to Islam; therefore, she could not be returned to her Christian parents. Christian activists publicly expressed their dismay and assisted the family in filing a complaint against Shah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they were able to prove that Masih was underage, Masih insisted in 2024 that she would remain with her Muslim husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wept uncontrollably,\u201d Masih\u2019s mother, Balqees Bibi, told the British Asian Christian Association. \u201cThere are no words to describe the agony. It was as if we had been told our daughter had been violated and murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year in Pakistan, roughly 1,000 young girls \u2014 many of whom are Christians \u2014 are kidnapped from their homes. 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