The concerns regarding forced conversion are not a new phenomenon in our part of the world. Almost a century ago the All India Muslim League chalked out the rules for conversion in this region.

The All India Muslim League adopted a resolution in December, 1927 at Calcutta which addressed the issue of forced conversion. Historian Ghulam Ali Allana’s book Pakistan Movement: Historic Documents describes the League’s demand as follows: “Every individual or group is at liberty to convert or re-convert another by argument or persuasion, but that no individual or group shall attempt to do so or prevent its being done by force, fraud or other unfair means, such as the offering of material inducement. Persons under eighteen years of age should not be converted unless it be along with their parents or guardians.”

Yet today, minority girls suffer several vulnerabilities in Pakistan, being financially weak, being children, being females and belonging to religious minorities. Day after day, terrible and heart-wrenching stories come to light prompting concerns about the need to protect vulnerable minority girls from forced conversions. Data show that episodes of forced conversion are accompanied by a range of other criminal offenses, including, but not limited to, assault, kidnapping, abduction, forced marriage, child marriage, statutory rape, rape, gang-rape, forced prostitution, and use of force.

Positive efforts to criminalize forced conversions

On August 1, 2025, the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) launched a report “Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions in Pakistan” in Lahore, which underscores the establishment and enforcement of robust legislation at the national and provincial levels to criminalize forced conversions, and ensure that perpetrators face accountability.

Earlier, on April 30, 2025, NCRC had launched their report “State of Children in Pakistan 2024” in Islamabad highlighting that “forced conversions, especially of young girls from Hindu and Christian communities, are a serious violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Abductions and subsequent forced conversions and marriages to older men are frequently reported in Sindh and Punjab.”

The report further pointed out, “The situation is particularly critical in Sindh province, which accounts for 69% of all reported cases, followed by Punjab with 30%. Among these, 71% of victims are children under the age of 18 while 22% were under the age of 14. Weak legal protections and societal apathy allow perpetrators to act with impunity, leaving families traumatised and powerless.”

Previously in December 2021, taking it as grave violation of child rights, NCRC prepared a policy brief on forced conversions in Sindh and presented concrete recommendations to stop it.

Meanwhile, the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has consistently condemned forced conversions of women and girls, and called for the enactment of laws addressing forced conversions, recognizing these as a form of gender-based violence. In April 2019, the NCSW submitted their statement to Islamabad High Court (IHC) questioning the age of the girls for conversion; where the girl is a minor the marriage should be declared invalid as she does not possess the capacity to consent to a marriage contract.

Neha Pervaiz, aged 12 years 7 months was abducted on April 6, 2019 in Islamabad, was converted from Christianity to Islam and married to the abductor. Her mother, Alishba Bibi, filed a case where the court asked the Chairperson of the NCSW to submit her report too.

In their report, the NCSW questioned, “Whether she had the capacity to enter marriage and to convert has to be determined by the Court as Neha’s correct age is not yet established.”

The National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) has recovered minor girls from perpetrators in Sindh and Punjab deeming forced conversion a violation of basic human rights. NCHR stated in their report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for 113th session, “NCHR has taken various suo motu notices of forced marriages and abductions of girls who were forced to convert to Islam. Due to the intervention of the Commission, relief has been provided to the victims and their families.”

Thus all three national human rights institutions in Pakistan realize the problem of forced conversions and recommend legislation and its implementation. If we look at the provincial level, Sindh Human Rights Commission has also taken the issue into account.

What does international law say?

Pakistan has endorsed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that the right to freedom of religion includes the right to change one’s religion, but no one shall be subject to compulsion to change their religion. In case of Pakistan, once the girls convert, there is no going back, as estrangement would mean a death sentence. In many cases, girls are also told that their families are ‘kafirs’ (disbelievers in God) and they cannot meet them. It curbs their access to justice as they remain in the control of men who converted them. No one hears from these girls directly after they get kidnapped.

Since 2010, Pakistan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights where Article 18(4) respects for the right of parents to determine their child’s religion up to the age of maturity in conformity with their own convictions.

Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 where Article 14 (2) describes, “State parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right to freedom of religion in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.”

In concluding observation of report on International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on July 20, 2017 the committee expressed concerns on forced conversion and forced marriages, and lack of legal protections to the minorities in Pakistan’s law.

In concluding observations on the combined 24th to 26th periodic report on Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Committee recommended to formulate specific legislation to criminalize abductions for the purpose of forced conversions and marriages, and to ensure effective implementation of laws.

In Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the human rights record of each member state is evaluated by its peers. Forced conversion in Pakistan is highlighted in all four UPRs by member states.

What national law needs

A discrepancy exists between the legal safeguards enshrined under the Constitution, the human rights instruments ratified by Pakistan and the criminal justice system practices on the ground. The Constitution of Pakistan (Article 20) gives the right to profess, practice and propagate religion to every citizen. However, the major concern in the debate is the forced conversion and marriage of minors.

Furthermore, Section 498 B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) prohibits forced marriages, making marriage of a minor and a non-Muslim woman an offense punishable with no less than five years of imprisonment and a fine up to one million rupees. However, the perpetrators convert the minors first and forge with their age, thus this legal safeguard remains largely unimplemented, primarily because the government has failed to take ownership of the law. Additionally, in cases of forced conversion, there is hardly any will from the government to effectively implement the child marriage restraint laws in place.

Nonetheless, there is no law specifically dedicated to curtailing the tide of forced conversions. Efforts to introduce a comprehensive law on curtailing conversions faced resistance in the past. Two bills, tabled in 2016 and then 2019, were shot down. On September 24, 2020 the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony rejected The Protection of Rights of Minorities Bill, 2020 which also covered the subject of forced conversion. The Prohibition of Forced Conversions Bill, 2021 drafted by the Federal Ministry of Human Rights was “dismissed” by the Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversion. The Committee did it at the objections of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Council of Islamic Ideology who had a discussion with the notorious Mian Mithoo. These bills recommended an age limit of 18 years upon conversion, enabling greater due process and a jail term for anyone guilty of coercion in faith conversion.

There is no dearth of cases, yet a response from the government has been missing, visibly owing to lack of consensus among ministries, and with excessive involvement of the clergy and religious groups. The nation is confronted with basic questions as to how many more minors will have to bear the sufferings of kidnapping and forced conversion? What will be sufficient for lawmakers to be able to define what a forced conversion is? How long will it take to accept independent verification for the age of minors? What rights are we affording to those who are marginalized, economically-dependent and underage? And, is rape against minors under claims of religious conversions going to be acceptable?

Ironically, each time a case of forced conversion is highlighted in the media, the state reiterates its promise of enacting laws on such conversions. However, federal and provincial governments both share responsibility of the gross negligence that accompanies the lack of legislation on forced conversions.

The attitude of law enforcing institutions

The rise in incidents of forced conversion is caused by growing lawlessness that increases the probability of crimes against weaker sections of society. The relative ease and impunity with which minority women are kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and unlawfully married to Muslim men, is attributable to several systemic factors. The dilemma of each forced conversion case is that no medical examinations are conducted to determine the age of the minor by the authorities independently. The neglectful, complicit and even hostile attitudes of the police and judicial officers put the aggrieved party at a disadvantaged position. It is a ground reality that victims and their families remain too scared or too reluctant to report the case.

Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of the functionaries of the justice system identify themselves with the majority faith and maybe potentially under the influence of subjective beliefs associated with the divine reward for siding with the individual responsible for converting someone’s faith to their religion. Both the lower courts and the higher courts of the country have displayed bias and a lack of conviction to enable proper procedures in cases that involve indictment of forced conversion and forced marriage.

On August 4, 2020, at Lahore High Court, the honourable Judge Raja Muhammad Shahid Abbasi remarked on Maira’s bogus marriage document, “Our grandparents or parents tied the knot at a time when no marriage certificates were issued, but their marriages were considered valid.” Lahore High Court then decided in the favour of Muhammad Nakash Tariq, the abductor, ruling that the girl had willingly embraced Islam. The schoolgirl fled her husband five days after the Lahore high court ruling.

Maira Shehbaz claims she was abducted on April 28 from Faisalabad and held prisoner in a basement. She alleges that her captors drugged and raped her before forcing her to convert to Islam to marry Nakash. Conversions coupled with discriminatory laws and societal prejudices make life miserable for religious minorities in the country.

Next steps

An inclusive set of legal, policy and administrative measures is required at the federal and provincial levels to prevent and eliminate forced conversions as human rights institutions suggested.

First, a comprehensive law is needed that protects the potential victims of forced conversion.

Second, state and government personnel (judges, police, medical officers, etc.) involved during the reporting, investigation and prosecution of forced conversion cases should use the existing protections in the law to provide justice. They should be sensitized and held accountable on the issue.

Third, special safeguards are needed for victims. Their protection, privacy, confidentiality, restitution, trauma healing, rehabilitation and fair legal participation is required. There must be pro bono legal facilities and expedited procedures before, during and post-trial.

Fourth, personal laws for minorities to govern private matters including marriage, divorce, custody, maintenance and inheritance should be updated.

Last, to keep up with advances on the legislative front, it is essential that an awareness campaign should be launched to educate minority citizens about their fundamental rights and freedoms. The general public should be aware of the punitive laws pertaining to forced faith conversions and related crimes. Educating the masses should also be a priority because it is the responsibility of all citizens to speak against injustice.

 

Nabila Feroz Bhatti is a human rights activist and columnist. She is Member Working Group at National Commission on the Rights of Child. She can be connected at nabilaferoz@gmail.com or on X: @NabilaFBhatti