WORLD NEWS | Situation of Pakistani women and girls critical: report

brussels [Belgium]16 May (ANI): The situation of women and girls in Pakistan is critical, whether they are Hindu, Christian or Muslim, reports HRWF.

On 8 May, HRWF organized a conference entitled “EU-Pakistan: Human Rights, Religious Freedom and the Generalized System of Preferences” at the Press Club in Brussels to discuss the dire situation of women and girls in Pakistan. NGO representatives from Belgium, Pakistan, Italy and the United States participated in the event, where a range of serious issues were discussed.

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Girls and women following minority religions such as Hinduism and Christianity are a growing problem in Pakistan. According to HRWF, Hindus make up about 2 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million population, while Christians make up less than 1 percent.

Pakistani women continue to endure the worst parts of bondage relationships, especially when they are kidnapped, with some choosing to run away and expose the injustice.

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Pakistan is also facing cases of honor killings. The opinion of the Pakistan Common Freedom Committee mentioned that from 2014 to 2016, there were 1,276 such homicides. Although the Pakistani parliament passed a law banning honor-related killings, such killings continue unabated, especially in rural areas, many of which do not report and go unpunished, report HRWF.

Pakistani women are culturally considered as second class citizens especially in terms of female education percentage which is very low compared to male literacy rate of 69%.

Gender inequality is a global problem but in Pakistan it is at the root of many problems. Regrettably, due to widespread illiteracy and gender-based prejudice, Pakistani society has largely ignored the vicious cycle of gender imbalance and violence.

Hundreds of forced conversions are reported every year. Most of the victims come from poor and vulnerable families.

In the southern province of Sindh, home to nearly 90 percent of the Hindu minority, abducted Hindu girls are reported to be forced to convert to Islam and then forced to marry Muslim men — often the kidnappers — quite common. HRWF.

Unfortunately, successive governments have failed to make forced conversions illegal. International reports recently said that at least 50 Hindu family members had been forcibly converted in Sindh province.

A recent report to the UN Human Rights Council on the abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage of young girls belonging to religious minorities, especially Christians and Hindus, was welcomed by the Christian community, Hindus and civil society in Pakistan organization.

A group of independent experts and special rapporteurs, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, called for “immediate steps to be taken to resolve these cases and bring justice to the victims,” ​​calling for, according to HRWF, Manufactured in Geneva last January 16.

Unfortunately, neither the judiciary nor any other state institution has dealt with this phenomenon for fear of the powerful Islamic religious lobby. For example, although the Sindh provincial assembly passed a bill in 2016 banning the conversion of anyone under the age of 18, the local government has yet to sign it due to concerns over widespread protests.

Abductions and forced conversions in Sindh are also addressed in the documentary “The Losing Party”, which will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and won the “Best Human Rights Film” category.

Recently, several members of Pakistan’s Hindu minority organized a protest march to raise awareness of the dangers of forced marriage and conversion of Hindu girls and women.

A member of Pakistan Darawar Ittehad (PDI), a Hindu association, said: “We want to highlight this big problem for Sindhi Hindus, especially in rural areas, where our young girls, some as young as 12 and 13, Kidnapped in broad daylight, forced to convert to Islam and married to older Muslim men.”

In Sindh province, such cases have increased in recent months, with lower courts receiving applications from parents seeking the restitution of their daughters, sisters and wives.

Sadly, none of the government representatives paid any attention to the demands of the peaceful protesters, HRWF reported.

In 2019, the Sindh Provincial Assembly discussed the abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls in several parts of the province. A bill to make the practice illegal was introduced but rejected by parliament. In 2021, another bill meets the same fate.

In January 2023, 12 human rights experts from the United Nations expressed concern about the increasing abduction, forced conversion and marriage of girls as young as 13 in Pakistan.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in its last report that about 1,000 girls are forcibly converted to Islam every year. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)