A heart-rending video of a Hindu girl who was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a man in Pakistan in February 2021 had recently surfaced on social media websites.
In the video that instantly went viral, the Hindu girl was on a terrace of a house, crying and asking people to help her in getting back to her home. The girl says that she is not feeling good and she wants to return back to her house. Voices of some other women can be heard in the video who did not offer any help to the girl.
Reena Meghwar was abducted in February, 2021.
— Veengas (@VeengasJ) April 26, 2021
Now, in video, she cries and wants to go to her home. Sindh government must look into the case and save a girl who needs help.https://t.co/rOuYd6mYmx pic.twitter.com/xM5AlwgJ1p
The girl in the video was identified as Reena Meghwar, who was kidnapped on February 13 from Keriogjar, Badar, converted to Islam, and then married off to a man. The family of the girl had filed an FIR, but the police failed to rescue the girl.
Abduction, forcible conversion to Islam of Hindu girls becomes a routine norm in Pakistan
Hindus in Pakistan live under a constant threat of persecution. Attacks on Hindus, kidnapping of Hindu daughters and their forcible conversions have become par for the course in Pakistan.
Hindus in Pakistan, especially girls, are leading a particularly vulnerable life in the country where forced conversion of Hindus into Islam has become a common norm. The Islamist fanatics routinely abduct Hindu girls, forcefully convert them into Islam before marrying them.
Earlier this month, a 22-year-old Hindu girl named Aarti Bai was abducted from Ali Gohar Abad locality in Larkana in the Sindh province, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a man. Instead of punishing the culprits, a courtin Pakistan prevented the girl’s family from meeting. A protest was then carried out by the members of the Hindu community protested outside the court against its decision.
On 11 March 2021, a 13-year-old Hindu girl named Kavita Oad from the Kandhkot area of Sindh was reportedly abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam. A couple of days later, her house was set on fire by unidentified miscreants.
In the same month, a journalist in Pakistan was shot dead by unknown assailants for exposing the role of politicians and clerics in facilitating the forceful conversions of Hindu girls.
Even the courts fail to do justice for Hindus in Pakistan. In fact, in some cases, the courts have empowered the culprits responsible for abducting and forcibly converting the Hindu and Christian minorities. In June 2020, a district magistrate allowed a Muslim man to keep his Hindu wife even after the parents of the girl alleged that their daughter was kidnapped and forcibly married off to the man.
