The parents of a 12-year-old Christian girl, who was abducted from Pakistan's Punjab province earlier this month by a Muslim man, fear that she will be forced to marry her captor and convert to Islam.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that Meerab Abbas was reportedly kidnapped on Nov. 2 by Muhammad Daud, a native of Balochistan.
The incident was reported to local police and two suspects were arrested; however, the whereabouts of Meerab is still unknown.
Since the abduction, Meerab's mother, Farzana, has suffered from severe emotional distress and was admitted to the hospital.
"Farzana has already had many challenges to face in life," Pastor Zahid Augustine, a pastor in Sahiwal, told Asia News. "We ask the government to consider kidnappings and forced marriages as a serious problem and to legislate in favor of minorities."
"Meerab is only 12-years-old," Augustine added. "She cannot marry, but the perpetrators commit these crimes in the name of religion. We just want justice."
Cases in Pakistan where Christian girls are kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and then forced to marry their kidnappers have been on the rise despite the country enacting the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act which forbids marriage below the age of 18.
CBN News reported earlier this year that a 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl was held captive for five months by her 45-year-old abductor.
The Muslim man reportedly abducted, raped, and then forced her to marry him.
A 13-year-old girl was abducted by a 44-year-old man last November while she was playing outside of her home in Karachi. She was reunited with her family three weeks later.
And a 14-year-old Christian girl who lived in the Zia Colony located in Karachi, Pakistan was kidnapped by three men in Oct. 2019. She was forced her to convert to Islam, then marry a Muslim man.
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