What happened to Elizabeth's daughter?
Elizabeth and her daughter were threatened to convert to Islam or face death. She hasn't seen her daughter in 2 years.
I know a 40-year-old woman named Elizabeth who has experienced first hand the reality of life as a minority in Pakistan.
Every morning , Elizabeth and her 14-year-old daughter used to walk through the narrow streets of their colony to reach their workplace, a double storey kothi located in a posh area of the city.
This was the routine of many women from the little Christian colony located near the ganda nala (dirty stream) in Islamabad.
During these morning walks, two 40 years old men started following them in a car. They threatened to kill Elizabeth and her daughter if they didn’t convert to Islam.
Scared, the women changed their routes many times and even changed the time they left home from 9:00 to 8:30 am or 8:15 am but somehow, the men always found them. They were not alone - the men also threatened other women who were walking out of the colony.
The women in the colony tried to get help from the police but their efforts were futile.
Finally, Elizabeth’s nephew started escorting the ladies to their work place and for two months, the men stopped chasing them. Life went back to normal and the women started to go out without their escort - but this was only temporary.
They had no idea that their hunters were keeping a watchful eye on them.
One cold, rainy morning when Elizabeth and her daughter turned into the street where their workplace is located, the same men suddenly appeared in a car. They kidnapped her daughter and took her away.
Elizabeth screamed for help but there was no one in the street. Because of the rain, even the security guards who normally stand outside the house were inside their cabins.
It has been two years since this incident – two years since Elizabeth has seen the face of her only child. There will be no more chats on the way to work, and no one to spend the day with. She does not know what those men did with her daughter. She does not even know if her daughter is alive. She says she feels like her life is over; she lies on her charpai all day, silently awaiting death.
This is just one of the many untold stories of Pakistan.
The truth is that many homes are being burnt and many people are being oppressed in the name of religion. The minorities from Pakistan deserve answers.
Every morning , Elizabeth and her 14-year-old daughter used to walk through the narrow streets of their colony to reach their workplace, a double storey kothi located in a posh area of the city.
This was the routine of many women from the little Christian colony located near the ganda nala (dirty stream) in Islamabad.
During these morning walks, two 40 years old men started following them in a car. They threatened to kill Elizabeth and her daughter if they didn’t convert to Islam.
Scared, the women changed their routes many times and even changed the time they left home from 9:00 to 8:30 am or 8:15 am but somehow, the men always found them. They were not alone - the men also threatened other women who were walking out of the colony.
The women in the colony tried to get help from the police but their efforts were futile.
Finally, Elizabeth’s nephew started escorting the ladies to their work place and for two months, the men stopped chasing them. Life went back to normal and the women started to go out without their escort - but this was only temporary.
They had no idea that their hunters were keeping a watchful eye on them.
One cold, rainy morning when Elizabeth and her daughter turned into the street where their workplace is located, the same men suddenly appeared in a car. They kidnapped her daughter and took her away.
Elizabeth screamed for help but there was no one in the street. Because of the rain, even the security guards who normally stand outside the house were inside their cabins.
It has been two years since this incident – two years since Elizabeth has seen the face of her only child. There will be no more chats on the way to work, and no one to spend the day with. She does not know what those men did with her daughter. She does not even know if her daughter is alive. She says she feels like her life is over; she lies on her charpai all day, silently awaiting death.
This is just one of the many untold stories of Pakistan.
The truth is that many homes are being burnt and many people are being oppressed in the name of religion. The minorities from Pakistan deserve answers.