The Christian parents of a 10-year-old girl in Pakistan who was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam fear she could be sold to traffickers. Laiba Suhail was abducted from her home in Punjab Province on February 12 by a gang of four non-Muslims. Her father Suhail Mash claims it was at the behest of a Muslim man whom officials have refused to prosecute.
Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reports Mr. Masih as saying the perpetrator has long been suspected of forcibly converting Christian children to Islam under duress and coercing them to file court statements that they wilfully converted to Islam.
He would then take them from shelter homes on the pretext of giving them religious education which is what he allegedly did with Laiba Suhail. “This is his modus operandi. No one knows what happens to his victims after they are handed to him. We fear that he and his accomplices are involved in trafficking and they sell these girls when they see that their families are in no position to pursue the matter further in the courts,” Mr. Masih explained.
He is upset that police have taken no action to recover his daughter despite the family’s registration of an abduction case against the suspect. Officers refused Mr. Suhail permission to speak to his daughter in court where she was surrounded by several policemen who later took her to a women’s shelter.
The father questioned how a 10-year-old girl could convert to Islam willingly when she did not even have a basic education, let alone a religious one. “It is a blatant lie that my daughter has changed her faith willingly. Whatever little religious education she has is from the church’s Sunday school. She has had no interaction with Muslims, because she used to stay at home all day long to take care of me and her mother,” Mr. Masih said. He is crippled in both legs, and neither he nor his wife are able to work due to health problems. His oldest son, who is 25, is a daily wage labourer who is the sole breadwinner for the family.
Christian attorney Sumera Shafique said the impoverished family should immediately file a motion with the high court for the recovery of Laiba, but so far, they haven’t been able to find an attorney to help them. “Laiba’s case is yet another example of how Islamic Sharia law is invoked to undermine the age of a minor. In her statement before the magistrate, the girl claimed that she’s an adult, but her official birth document states her age is 10 years and two months,” Ms. Shafique noted.
She has recovered several Christian children who were victims of forced conversion and forced marriages, including Maira Shahbaz, who was kidnapped and forcibly converted in 2020. Ms. Shafique said she regretted that victims’ families, who are often illiterate and poor, are used by local activists for their own self-interests, which damages the cases and results in prolonged delays in the recovery of abducted girls.
A habeas corpus petition must be filed immediately in the Lahore High Court, she insisted. “The child is hardly 10 years old, and I believe the court will take her conversion matter very seriously,” she said, adding that timely legal intervention could help save the girl from further exploitation.
Mr. Masih said he is determined to rescue his daughter at all costs. “I appeal to the Christian leadership to step forward and help me in saving my minor daughter. She’s just a child who has fallen victim to these predators masking themselves as religious leaders.”
