By Zainab Ali
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is witnessing a rising number of alleged forced religious conversions of minorities living in Pakistan.
In a report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stated that the number of incidents of religious minorities facing persecution remained consistent between July 2021 and June 2022.
The HRCP report focused on forced conversions and the desecration of minorities’ places of worship. It also questioned Pakistan’s standardized national curriculum, which it claimed has created an “exclusionary narrative that marginalizes Pakistan’s religious minorities.”
According to the report, “around 60 cases of forced conversion were reported in the local media in
2021, of which 70% were girls under 18,” most of whom were from Sindh province.
Forced conversions are forbidden in Islam.
Talking to the residents of Islamabad about their opinions on the forced conversion of minorities, especially minor Hindu girls in Sindh, they stated that the practice of forced conversion is not part of Islam and that whoever supports forced conversion should be dealt with strictly according to law.
While talking to World Echo, Harmeet Singh, the first Pakistani Sikh journalist, said that forced conversion is widespread in Sindh. He said there were many Hindus in Pakistan during the partition, but that number has decreased drastically.
Harmeet said, “Laws have been made against forced conversion of minors, but there is no implementation of these laws due to the religious parties and feudalism in Pakistan.”
He added that it is troubling with regard to their sisters and daughters after hearing about such cases.
According to the HRCP report, Muslims comprise approximately 96 percent of Pakistan’s 207 million population, Hindus 2.1 percent, Christians 1.6 percent, and Ahmadis 0.2 percent.
