Bengaluru: Remember Maria Shahbaz Well, all of 14, this Christian minor was kidnapped in Pakistan by a wealthy businessman, Muhammad Naqash. 

As she knocked on the doors of the Lahore high court for justice, little did she know that the court would decree against her! 

Now, there are news reports that she has fled along with her family (mother and three siblings). 

Reports add that she refused to change her faith when she was forced to do so. 

 

The minor girl had been abducted last April at gunpoint and forcibly married.  
The Lahore high court asked the minor to be a “good wife” and sent her back to the abductor. Till then, she had been at a women’s shelter home.

But it should also be noted that a Sessions Court in Faisalabad had directed that the victim be rehabilitated.

It is to be further noted that the Lahore high court refused to accept documents related to the minor’s date of birth which corroborated her minor status at the time of marriage.  

The court was of the view that she had converted to Islam, upheld the marriage and ordered that she be sent back to her abductor.

Reports added that the girl could not control her tears as the judges pronounced the verdict in favour of the abductor.

Pakistan has been a cruel country for its minorities. Be it Hindus or Christians, the country treats them as second-class citizens. Young girls are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and then married.

In some other cases, these minorities are disenfranchised and are made to go through hell.

The lands that minorities own are also usurped. Even if they are returned, the owners are forced to work in their own lands.

For these minorities, harassment and torture in the name of religion is an everyday affair.