Punjab: Parents demand justice for 17-year-old girl goes missing after 'conversion' to Islam
In Khushab District, a Christian family reports growing threats and the forced conversion to Islam of their 17-year-old daughter. The girl was taken by the police and then went missing from state custody. The Edge Foundation is assisting the parents, now hiding for fear of retaliation, and is preparing an appeal to the Lahore High Court. This case is emblematic of the persecution affecting religious minorities in Pakistan.
Khushab (AsiaNews) – In another chilling reminder of the growing threat facing religious minorities in Pakistan, a Christian family in a remote village in Khushab District (Punjab) was the latest victim of coercion, intimidation, and the alleged kidnapping of their 17-year-old daughter, under the pretext of religious conversion to Islam.
For nearly two decades, Mushtaq, a daily labourer, and Khalida, a midwife serving her community, lived peacefully in Chak No. 50/Mb, a small village surrounded by countryside and home to about fifty Muslim households and only a handful of Christian families.
Their modest home and honest lifestyle earned them great respect in the community. But the peace they had known for 20 years came to a sudden and painful end last month.
According to the couple, their nightmare began when some residents began visiting them frequently, urging them to convert to Islam. Initially, the requests were formulated as friendly suggestions, but soon turned into insistent pressure and threats.
“They told us that if we become Muslims, we would get a house, land, and money,” Mushtaq said, his voice breaking with emotion during an interview in Sargodha. “When we refused, their tone changed. They started warning us that it would not be safe for us to stay in the village as Christians.”
Khalida, who has delivered countless boys and girls to local families of all faiths, said she never imagined her neighbours would turn against them. “We have helped them for years. But now they say our faith is a problem,” she lamented.
The nightmare worsened on 23 September 2025, when their 17-year-old daughter suddenly disappeared.
That day, Mushtaq had gone into the fields while Khalida rested after taking her medicine. When their daughter did not return, her desperate parents sought to find her. They were eventually told that police had taken the girl away because she had “accepted Islam” and no longer wanted to live with her parents.
At the local police station, the couple was told that their daughter had called the emergency number, claiming her parents were planning to kill her for converting to Islam.
Police said she had been placed in Dar-ul-Aman, a government shelter for women and girls.
The parents were devastated. “Our daughter could never do this,” Khalida wept. “Someone has made her say these things. She is innocent and does not understand what is happening.”
Following a desperate phone call from the family, a team of investigators from The Edge Foundation, composed of lawyers Sohail Shahid Gill, Azhar Saeed, Aleem Akhtar, and Irfan Peter, travelled to Khushab on 1 October.
For security reasons, the meeting with the family was arranged in a safe place, where the couple arrived frightened and in tears, away from their village.
The team learned that the threats had intensified and that neighbours were monitoring the couple's movements. The link between the forced conversion and their daughter's disappearance was clear.
Determined to ensure the girl's safety, part of the team went to the Jauharabad Court on 6 October 2025, to request permission to meet the girl at Dar-ul-Aman.
To their surprise, court staff informed them that the 17-year-old had already been released a few days earlier, on 29 September 2025.
There was no record of who took her or where she had gone. The police were unable to provide any details about her alleged "conversion," nor could they produce any documents proving she acted voluntarily.
“It is extremely alarming that a minor girl can disappear from state custody without any record,” said lawyer Sohail Shahid Gill. “This is a clear violation of the law and a serious human rights concern.”
Given the growing hostility and lack of police protection, The Edge Foundation moved Mushtaq and Khalida to a safe house, providing them with food, shelter, and psychological support.
The team is preparing a petition to be filed with the Lahore High Court to trace the missing girl. The couple is pleading with the authorities to find her, so that they can embrace her again.
“We just want to see our daughter and know that she is safe,” Mushtaq said quietly. “We only want justice and to live in peace.”
The case of Mushtaq and Khalida is not isolated. It illustrates a growing trend in Punjab, where Christian and Hindu families, especially those living in rural areas, face systematic discrimination, economic vulnerability, and religious pressure.
Poor families often become easy targets for powerful locals who exploit their situation and isolation, luring their daughters into predatory schemes disguised as "voluntary conversions" to Islam.
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that minority women and girls in Pakistan are at high risk of abduction, forced conversion, and early marriage, with little or no legal protection.
Police often refuse to register complaints, and courts only occasionally accept statements from minors who say they converted under duress.
The Edge Foundation has urged the Punjab government and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to investigate the disappearance of the girl from Khushab, ensuring her immediate recovery, and providing full security for her parents.
The organisation also called for reforms in procedures governing conversion and the protection of minors, emphasising that faith must never be imposed through fear, deception, or coercion.
This heartbreaking case is also a painful reminder that Pakistan's promise of equality for men and women remains far from reality.
Mushtaq and Khalida are now hiding out at an undisclosed location, clinging to hope and praying, but one question echoes in their hearts: “Where is our daughter?”
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