Two Hindu girls 'forcibly' married off, converted to Islam in Pakistan's Sindh province

In a major jolt to Imran Khan’s vision of a ‘Naya Pakistan’, two Hindu teenage girls of 12 and 14 were allegedly kidnapped, forcibly married off and converted to Islam in Pakistan's Sindh province. 

The incident took place when the Hindu community was celebrating Holi. 

Hindu community took to streets demanding stern action against the accused involved in the abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls.

The police, which had reportedly dillydallied in registering the complaint earlier, finally lodged the FIR after the protests broke out. 

The priest who got the girls married said it was a voluntary decision of girls to convert to Islam. However, the marriage and subsequent conversion is a blatant violation of the law passed by the Sindh assembly which bars conversion of minors in the absence of their parents.

In 2015, Sindh assembly passed a law to curb child marriages, which enables not just the priests to be arrested but all those who were part of the gathering

Forty eight hours have passed since the incident, yet the Pakistan government is still to take any action.

Imran Khan had recently tweeted that Naya Pakistan was Jinnah's Pakistan that would ensure that minorities would be treated equally, but this incident brings to the fore Imran's hollow assurances given to minority communities of Pakistan. 

The situation in Pakistan remains the same as religious minorities continue to suffer due to discrimination and persecution.