The recent conversion of an underage girl from Hinduism to Islam in Sindh has once again compelled the country to explore the possibilities of enacting a law to prevent forced conversions.
Article 20 of the Constitution guarantees religious freedom, but what religious freedom means is currently what the fanatic believes it should mean. The discrimination against women belonging to religious minority groups is worse; they become victims of rape, abduction, forced marriage and forced conversion.
Forced conversions are just one form of systematic and gross human rights violations. Ultimately, the price is paid heavily by the most vulnerable section of society carrying a manifold impact on their lives.
A report on forced Conversion
According to a report by an international news agency, published in 2020, “each year 1,000 Pakistani girls forcibly converted to Islam”. The report has apparently relied on another report published in 2018 by the University of Birmingham which suggested that “an estimated 1,000 women and girls from religious minorities are abducted, forcibly converted and then married off to their abductors every year in Pakistan”.
The U.S. State Department, in December 2020, declared Pakistan “a country of particular concern” for violations of religious freedoms — a designation the Pakistani government rejects. The declaration was based in part on an appraisal by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that underage girls in the minority Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities were “kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam… forcibly married and subjected to rape.”
Moral and Islamic aspect of forced conversion
Morally forcing a person to change his religion is not acceptable because it is against basic human nature. As a noble creature, human wants to do whatever he or she wants, with his own pleasure and consent.
On the other hand, Islam is a religion of peace and it encourages its supporters to be peaceful and live in harmony. The Holy Quran clearly prohibits forced conversion when it says, “There is no compulsion in religion. Surely, the guidance has become evidently distinguished from error. So he who rejects false gods and believes in Allah has grasped such a firm handhold that will never loosen. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” (2:256).
The capstone of the quranic case for religious liberty is the fact that not even the Prophet Muhammad could impose or force people to profess Islam. When people were unreceptive to the message of Islam, the Quran explicitly reminded him that he was never to resort to coercion: “Your task is only to exhort; you cannot compel them to believe” (88:21.
Protection of Minorities Bill
Four years ago, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, which made forced conversions punishable by law. But following a backlash from certain groups, the legislation never saw the light of the day.
The Sindh government twice attempted to outlaw forced conversions and marriages including laying guidelines for the court process in the Protection of Minorities Bill, placing an age limit of 18 years upon conversions and enabling better due process.
There are laws against such incidents, including child marriage, but it is inadequate. All conversion issues and child marriages under the age of 18 should be prohibited and declared invalid.
The deadly virus
Just like the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, society has to wake-up and all governmental and non-governmental stakeholders must play their part to relieve Pakistan of this menace.
The battleground in the struggle against forced conversions will have to be in the realms of the justice system, parliament, and social spaces. Severe laws and strategies are required in the country, for the guarantee of life and liberty of Pakistan’s religious minorities must be enthusiastically embraced by all our citizens.
