According to media reports, an 18-year-old Hindu girl was shot dead during a failed kidnapping attempt in Pakistan’s Sindh Province on Tuesday. The Friday Times newspaper stated that the girl, known as Pooja Oad, was shot in the middle of the street in Rohi, Sukkur, after she resisted the attackers. This isn’t a one-off occurrence in Pakistan. Hundreds of Christian and Hindu girls are reportedly forced to convert to Islam every year, according to human rights organisations.
Women from minority populations are routinely kidnapped and forced to convert. Forced marriages and conversions have long been a problem for the country’s minority cultures, according to a rights group.
Several human rights organizations have accused Pakistan’s government of failing to act in response to the escalating number of crimes against Hindus and other minorities. Sindh’s provincial administration had previously attempted to make coerced conversions and weddings illegal. Religious protestors, on the other hand, have criticized the bill, claiming that girls only convert after falling in love with Muslim men.
