A recent court ruling has reignited alarm over the treatment of religious minorities in Pakistan, where critics say law enforcement and the judiciary too often fail to protect vulnerable girls from abduction, forced conversion and coerced marriage.
On February 3, a federal court granted custody of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz to a Muslim man accused of kidnapping her, converting her to Islam and marrying her.
According to Safdar Chaudhry, chairperson of the Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry, speaking to Christian Daily International–Morning Star News, judges dismissed the girl’s birth certificate proving her age and ignored earlier rulings declaring the marriage illegal.
For Maria’s parents, the decision was devastating. Her father, Shahbaz Masih, a driver and father of five, says their neighbour abducted her on July 29 when she stepped outside to visit a nearby shop. Since then, the family has repeatedly sought legal intervention to bring her home without success.
A recurring pattern
Maria’s case is far from isolated. Each year, an estimated 1,000 girls and young women from minority communities many of them Christians are reportedly abducted, sexually assaulted, forcibly married to older men and coerced into religious conversion. Some victims are as young as seven. Others have disabilities. Many families never see their daughters again.
Human rights observers say police frequently fail to act decisively, while courts often validate disputed marriages and conversions. Survivors face lifelong trauma, stigma and social exclusion in a society where family “honour” carries immense weight.
The watchdog organization Open Doors ranks Pakistan eighth on its 2026 World Watch List, which monitors persecution of Christians worldwide.
The group reports that Christian women face acid attacks, workplace harassment, blasphemy accusations and honour killings, while many remain trapped in bonded labour such as brick-kiln work, where sexual exploitation is common.
Christian men face their own dangers, including false blasphemy accusations, imprisonment and violence. Many are confined to hazardous or stigmatized work, often labelled with degrading terms, while others conceal their faith to avoid losing employment or facing charges.
Discrimination begins in childhood
According to Open Doors, discrimination often begins early. In some areas, Christian children must attend Islamic instruction in local madrassas, while Christian religious education is limited. Some are barred from shared facilities, bullied by classmates or assigned menial cleaning tasks based on stereotypes. Critics say elements of the national curriculum further entrench religious hierarchy and intolerance.
Christians make up roughly 1.8 percent of Pakistan’s population of about 250 million. The country is overwhelmingly Muslim, and religious minorities remain socially and politically marginalized.
Since the adoption of Pakistan’s Islamic constitution in 1973, legal and social frameworks have increasingly intertwined religion and state authority. Analysts argue that this environment reinforces gender inequality and leaves non-Muslim minorities particularly vulnerable to discrimination, economic exclusion and violence.
International concern, limited change
Calls for reform have intensified internationally. An Open Doors spokesperson told European Conservative that Western governments should press Pakistan to establish specialized, multi-faith investigative units to examine disputed conversions and marriages and ensure victims can testify without coercion. The group also urges judicial training aligned with international human rights standards.
Forced conversions and marriages also affect Hindu girls and women. In April 2024, experts from the United Nations warned of a worsening pattern affecting minority communities. They noted that local authorities often dismiss complaints and courts frequently validate contested unions.
The UN statement highlighted the case of Roshni Shakeel, another 13-year-old Christian girl abducted and forcibly converted by an older man who registered her age as 18. Although she later escaped, her family reportedly faced intimidation from police, who detained and beat her father in an attempt to force him to reveal her whereabouts.
Longstanding appeals ignored
International advocacy on the issue is not new. In 2020, the World Evangelical Alliance and the World Council of Churches jointly petitioned the UN Human Rights Council to address abductions and forced marriages of minors from religious minorities. They urged Pakistan to investigate cases promptly, prosecute perpetrators, treat religious conversion linked to marriage as evidence of coercion and provide rehabilitation for victims.
Yet activists say many recommendations remain unimplemented.
For families like Maria Shahbaz’s, the consequences are not theoretical. They are lived daily — in courtrooms where evidence is dismissed, in police stations where complaints stall and in communities where fear and silence often prevail.
Until institutions consistently protect the vulnerable, critics warn, forced conversions and child marriages will remain not only a human rights concern but a test of whether justice can reach those who need it most.
Uzay Bulut is a Turkey-born journalist formerly based in Ankara. She focuses on Turkey, political Islam and the history of the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
