In yet another shocking incident in Pakistan, a Christian teenager in Pakistan claimed to have been beaten, forcibly converted to Islam and then married off to a 45-year-old Muslim man. It has been widely reported for some time that religious minority females in Pakistan are facing some extreme persecution from Pakistan’s majority religion, because of their gender and faith.
It is Neha Pervaiz, a 15-year-old who lives in the Ittehad Town neighborhood of Karachi, who told ucanews.com about her bitter experiences when she went to her aunt’s house with the intent of taking care of a sick relative.
“I was taken by my aunt, a Muslim convert, to her house on April 28 to help her look after her sick son. But there I was asked to marry a Muslim man named Imran. When I refused, they beat me up and threatened to kill my minor brother who was with me. They then pressurized me to convert to Islam and marry Imran,” she told ucanews.com, an outlet that exclusively covers Catholic news in Asia.
Pervaiz was taken to a cleric, forced to recite Quran, was given a new name: Fathima. Later, she was legally married to Imran. It wasn’t until May 5 that Pervaiz was able to escape from the home with the help of her captor’s daughter.
“I was shocked to learn what had happened to my daughter as I was under the impression that she was at her aunt’s house to help her,” Jamila Masih mother of Pervaiz told reporters.
Police were reportedly reluctant to register the family’s complaint but a case was filed on May 13 with the help of a local pastor.
The experience of Pervaiz is not uncommon to girls of the religious minority in Pakistan. There are plenty of other similar cases.
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