13 Year girl Arzoo Raja from Karachi Pakistan case updates with Nadra Certificate and court orders

 

Alleged forcible conversion: 'Daughter was beautiful, I don't know how long she lived

Pakistan's Hindu and Christian minority communities have long complained of forced conversions of their daughters.

Karachi resident Catherine Masih (pseudonym) and her husband Michael (pseudonym) were on their way to work when their daughter went missing from home in their absence. He kept searching but did not find out and a few days later the police seized the papers and informed him that the girl had changed her religion and got married.

According to Catherine and Michael, their daughter was old enough to play with dolls.

Catherine claims her daughter is a minor and that the man who allegedly lured her is over 44 years old.

"My daughter is 13 years old. She used to play with dolls at home," says Catherine. My daughter was very beautiful, I don't know how long she has been staring at me. He used to feed the children with candies and ice cream, what did we know that one day he would pick them up like this.

Catherine lives in the quarters of Karachi Cantt Railway Colony, she has her daughter's birth certificate, NADRA, and school certificate which shows that the girl is 13 years old. However, the affidavit submitted by the girl in the court claimed that she was 18 years old and had got married following her legal and constitutional rights.

The Christian population in Pakistan is estimated at between 2 million and 2.5 million. Apart from Karachi, Lahore and other major cities are predominantly Christian.

The unfriendly attitude of the police and the judiciary

Catherine works in many homes while her husband Michael is a driver. Both have lost their jobs in search of a daughter and now stay home all day. Michael said he went to the Frere police station for an FIR but police said it was a case of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell and showed him the way to the Garden Police Headquarters.

According to Michael, the Garden Police asked him to bring two eyewitnesses and an identity card.

"We said all the people had gone to work, no one saw where we got the eyewitnesses from. The suspect is not at home, his phone number is locked and his bike is missing. The case was registered with great difficulty but no further action was taken.

The next day after the FIR, the police called and handed over the marriage certificate and the certificate of conversion, Michael said.

"We were told by a lawyer to seek help from the court. We were presented in court, there we were also shown the age certificate of the daughter, the judge said to apply. The lawyer said that the fee was Rs. 50,000. I said that I could not pay that much, after which he asked for Rs. 20,000. I said I would get interested in someone, but I was disappointed. '

Forced conversion is not just a crime

According to the Center for Social Justice, a human rights organization, there have been cases of alleged forced conversion of 55 Christian girls in the last 16 years, 95% of whom are from Punjab. The Hindu community in Sindh complains of forced conversions, but now the Christian community is also complaining.

Peter Jacob, head of the Center for Social Justice, says that whenever there are incidents of forced religion, parents are frightened, preventing their daughters from socializing, so much so that education is hampered.

He says such incidents involve "not just one crime, but kidnappings, violence, parental harassment, and then disrespecting both the law and religion by breaking the law." This includes rape, child abuse, and sexual harassment.

He says the law has to be asked why young girls are converting, why no one is trying to stop the number.

Complaints do not meet forced change

A parliamentary commission comprising members of the Senate and National Assembly was formed last year to address complaints of forced conversions in Pakistan, which began its work almost 11 months later, and recently with the Hindu community in Sindh province. Met with provincial and district administrations.

Initially, the commission believed that conversion to adolescence could not be banned, but administrative action was needed.

The head of the parliamentary committee, Senator Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, said that the allegations of forced conversion were not being met.

He said the victim's family had brought charges of kidnapping and juvenile delinquency while the accused were bringing up legal points involving the will process, in some cases they had confessed before the magistrate. There was also evidence of a marriage certificate and a voluntary conversion.

Peter Jacob says that the court is presented with a certificate of conversion and a marriage certificate, and the court rightly acknowledges that a 13- to a 15-year-old girl is voluntarily converting.

The law does not explain what forced conversion is. When someone manipulates the legal process, converts are not allowed to visit their families, get married immediately, then there should be an investigation into whether there is any kind of coercion or not. 99% of these cases are related to marriage.

Manipulation of the legal system

The head of the parliamentary committee, Senator Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, admits that the legal system is manipulated, which benefits the accused.

Even if we make laws, the problem will remain the same. Our thinking is that if administrative steps are taken, administrative agility is shown, the problems will be less because non-state actors will not be a part of it.

If the Deputy Commissioner or DPO of the district is involved in making the age certificate etc., then the procedure will be more credible. There will be relatively few questions. At the moment private groups or individuals become part of it, the procedure becomes a bit dubious.

It may be recalled that the National Minorities Commission has also been constituted in the light of the orders of the Supreme Court.

Minority community disappointed with the parliamentary committee

The head of the parliamentary committee said that he did not think that any law could restrict the spiritual journey to a certain age. He said that he could travel at a certain age and could not do so at a certain age. This is a natural process. Members do not consider it appropriate to restrict conversion at any age, but forcible conversion at the age of 13 or the age of 63 is not acceptable.

Peter Jacob, head of the Center for Social Justice, said the committee had tried to justify itself by saying that the cases were for economic reasons and that some marriages of choice were taking place.

We thought that when there is an investigation at the parliamentary level, it will be done with great care, it will be comprehensive. Is converted.

"We are very disappointed to see this," he said.

According to Peter Jacob, he knows the economic conditions of the majority of religious minorities and their social influence, in light of which it can be said that conversion cannot take place without coercion.