1,000 and counting: 25 Hindu girls are forcibly being converted to Islam monthly in Pakistan

New Delhi, Apr 19: The kidnapping of yet another Hindu girl in Pakistan and forcibly being converted to Islam has raised major concerns again.

Officials in India tell OneIndia that there is a clear pattern to these incidents and several 1,000 cases have been reported so far.

If one takes a look at the statistics, there are over 1,000 such cases that have been reported. Influential Muslim men in Pakistan kidnap the girls, forcibly convert them and get them married off.

The problem is the highest in the Southern Sindh province and 1,000 cases have been reported from here in 2018 alone says a report prepared by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The cities in Pakistan where such incidents are occurring the most at Badin, Karachi, Tando, Allahyar, Kashmore, Ghotki, Umerkot Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar. The report states that at least 25 forced marriages take place per month in the Umerkot district of Sindh. There are nearly 75 lakh Hindus who live in Pakistan, most of them in the Sindh province.

It may be recalled that a video had gone viral in March this year in which a cleric is seen solemnising the marriage of two girls who were kidnapped from their homes in Ghotki and converted.

Following Thursday's incident, the Hindu community members at Rahim Yar Khan demanded that the girl be brought back. They alleged that the kidnappers took her to Karachi and got her converted to Islam at a seminary after marrying her off forcibly. The suspects then uploaded pictures of the girl.

Ram Yar Khan houses 1.5 lakh Hindus and they have now been assured that justice would be done.