Hindu girls approach IHC for protection

ISLAMABAD: Two Hindu girls, who were allegedly forced to convert to Islam from Hinduism before their marriage to Muslim men after their abduction from Ghotki, on Monday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) along with their spouses seeking protection.

Naming the Ministry of Interior, the Sindh chief minister and the provincial police as respondents, they state in their petition that they are being subjected to negative propaganda on media due to which their lives are under threat.

The teenage sisters say they converted to Islam out of their own free will as they were impressed by its teachings and deny the allegations that they embraced Islam as their new religion under duress.

The petitioners plead to the high court to direct the government to provide them protection.

The two girls, Raveena,13, and Reena, 15, were allegedly kidnapped from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. Soon after their parents claimed that they were abducted, a video went viral on social media in which a cleric was purportedly shown solemnizing the Nikah of the two girls.

Earlier, on March 24, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh to carry out investigation into alleged forced conversion and underage marriages of the Hindu girls.

Addressing a press conference, Federal Minster for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said the prime minister had also directed the Sindh government to conduct an inquiry into the incident.