14-year-old Hindu girl goes missing in Pak’s Sindh days after abduction of two minor sisters

Just days after two minor Hindu sisters were abducted and alleged to be forcibly converted, another 14-year-old Hindu girl has gone missing from the same area in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

The girl has been missing since Wednesday, with her parents issuing a video appeal on Saturday urging authorities to intervene and ensure her safe return. The disappearance comes amid a case that has sparked widespread concern over the alleged abduction and forced conversion of two sisters aged 14 and 16 on August 29.

The two sisters were abducted from Ibrahim Colony in Tando Allahyar, approximately 200 km northeast of Karachi in the Sindh province.

The sisters were later rescued by police and produced before a sessions court in Tando Allahyar. However, instead of being handed over to their parents, they were sent to a women’s safe house as the case remains pending.

Emotional scenes were witnessed at the court on September 9 when the sisters pleaded to be allowed to return home. They told the court that two Muslim men had abducted them, forcibly converted them and married them.

The cases have once again highlighted concerns over the alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage of minor Hindu girls to older Muslim men in rural areas of Sindh.

Human rights lawyer Zia Awan said on Saturday that girls from poor and underprivileged Hindu families were particularly vulnerable.

“Another problem is that since these girls belong to the lower castes of the Hindu community, the system provides them little protection,” Awan said.

He said the girls were often easy targets because of their socio-economic circumstances and lack of access to protection mechanisms.