Islamabad, April 21 (IANS) A leading minority rights organisation on Tuesday strongly condemned the forced conversion and marriage of a minor Hindu girl in Pakistan’s Sindh province, raising concerns over the safety of the minority communities across the country.
According to the Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), Pooja, a ninth-grade girl and daughter of Ramsun Thakur, was allegedly abducted and thrust into a “nightmare” of forced conversion.
The organisation claimed that she was renamed ‘Dua Fatima’ and coerced into marrying Imran Ali, son of Allah Wario — terming it “a cruel ritual that stripped her identity and chained her to a life she never chose.”
The rights body noted that the family’s distress has been widely shared on social media and among minority rights groups, underscoring concerns over the vulnerability of the Hindu girls in Sindh.
“In Pakistan, forced conversions aren’t isolated tragedies; they’re a relentless plague, especially in Sindh, where Hindu families live in perpetual terror that their daughters will be snatched, brainwashed, and wedded off under the guise of ‘love’ or faith,” the VOPM noted.
It stressed that such cases are marked by conflicting accounts that “mock justice”— with girls “paraded in court claiming willing conversion”, while families allege abduction and coercion.
“No official word yet from police or courts in Pooja’s plight, but the pattern is heartbreakingly familiar: authorities probe age and consent, yet the power imbalance tilts against the vulnerable,” the VOPM stated.
Human rights flagged a wave of abductions in Sindh, with child marriages and forced faith changes flouting every legal provision.
“Courts lean on the victim’s words, but how free is that voice when terror silences the truth?” the rights body questioned.
Emphasising that Pooja’s case reflects a broader pattern, the VOPM said, “Civil society roars for action — a transparent probe, ironclad safeguards, and an end to this scourge that devours families and erodes lives. Pooja’s story isn’t just one girl’s tragedy; it’s Pakistan’s open wound, where forced conversions demand not whispers on social media but thunderous reform to shield the innocent and heal the heartbroken.”
–IANS
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