24 October Christians held a protest against the abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage of 13-year-old Arzoo Raja. More than 400 people from civil society, political leaders, religious leaders gathered last weekend to offer support for Arzoo Raja, who was kidnapped and forced to marry her neighbor in Railway Colony of St. Anthony’s Parish of the southern city in Sindh province.
Arzoo’s mother, Rita Masih, said she and her husband were at work on Oct. 13 when they received a phone call from a close relative that Arzoo had gone missing. The family immediately filed a kidnapping complaint with the police.
Forced conversion into Islam is extremely rising in Pakistan. We strongly condemn forced conversion and forced marriages of minor girls of religious minorities in Pakistan. As our Pakistani young minor Christian and Hindu girls are forcefully converted into Islam and forced to marriage with the Muslim men under the Islamic traditions.