Protest held outside Pak High Commission in London over forced conversion of Hindu girl

Human Rights Activists from Pakistan and members of the Indian community living in the United Kingdom held a protest outside the Pakistan High Commission in London to seek justice for Mehak Kumari, a minor Hindu girl who was reportedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man in Sindh.

“We are gathered here to demand justice for Mehak Kumari and send out a message that she is not alone in her fight. We cannot stay quiet about the way Pakistan is treating its minorities,” said a protester on Monday, the second day of protest.

The 15-year-old was allegedly abducted from Jacobabad district in Pakistan on January 15 by Ali Raza Solangi who later married her.

The father of Mehak, a Class 9 student, filed an FIR, claiming that Solangi had abducted and married her forcibly.

Some clerics in Pakistan demanded death punishment for the girl for retracting from her previous statement that she accepted Islam of her own free will.

A court in Sindh province is yet to announce its verdict in the case and has sent Kumari to a local Dar-ul-Aman (shelter home) in Larkana district for 11 days, according to news agency ANI.

According to Pakistani media, Sindh Minorities Affairs Minister Hari Ram Kishori Lal has assured Kumari’s family of full support.

In a telephonic conversation with the leader of a Hindu group of Jacobabad district on Wednesday, the minister said that the Sindh government fully supports the stance of the family and the Hindu group, reports in local media said.

Pointing out that Kumari could not marry until she was 18 under the legislation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, Lal said that her marriage was a crime as per the law.

Abduction and conversion of Hindu women has been a major issue in Sindh province where the majority of Pakistani Hindus live.

India had last month summoned a senior official of the Pakistan high commission to lodge a strong protest over these cases.

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