Pakistan: What is forced conversion?

Sarmad Ali

The environment in Pakistan does not allow conversion to any other religion from Islam, which is treated as apostasy, punishable by death

The landmark judgment delivered on June 19, 2014 by a full bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan concerning the bomb attack on Peshawar’s All Saints Church is a milestone in the country’s history. The judgment said that there is a need to guarantee equal rights to minorities in Pakistan. The 32-page judgement said that the constitution of Pakistan promises freedom of religion and that no citizen has a right to impose his or her beliefs on others. The judgment is undoubtedly an excellent example for every institution of Pakistan and even for the courts to follow when considering minorities’ issues of any sort. There is one more crucial issue that has not received due consideration among intellectuals and human rights organisations: forced conversion. In a previous article of mine, ‘Domestic violence should be a crime’ (Daily Times, June 10, 2014), I opined that domestic violence is a crime and an act must be passed sooner rather than later dealing with domestic violence-related issues. I also believe that there is a need to enact laws that prohibit forced conversion through any means. This discussion article discusses the forced conversion issue in Pakistan, a big problem in southern Punjab and interior Sindh.

First, it is pertinent to demonstrate what forced conversion actually is. Forced conversion is a religious conversion generally without the consent or acceptance of the subject. Theoretically, there is no bar on changing one’s religion in Pakistan. However, in Pakistan a right to conversion means conversion to Islam. The environment in Pakistan does not allow conversion to any other religion from Islam, which is treated as apostasy, punishable by death according to common interpretations of sharia law. Historically, when the Arabs came to Sindh in 711 CE under Mohammad bin Qasim, they quickly destroyed the Sindhi forts to conquer Sindh. The people here had been practicing Buddhism and Hinduism for many years. Many Hindus chose to flee Sindh and move to Punjab and Kutch. Those who stayed behind were asked to convert to Islam and those who refused to convert to Islam had heavy taxes and penalties levied against them, and their properties were taken from them just to punish them for not being Muslims.

Forced conversion was a major part of the Christianisation of the Roman Empire. In 392, Emperor Theodosius I decreed that Christianity was the only legal religion of the Roman Empire, forbidding pagan practices by law. Here, I opine that forced conversion was common in ancient and medieval societies but the forced conversion phenomenon was in practice in the subcontinent too. Forced conversion is still prevalent in Pakistan and has not yet gathered the attention of human rights groups. In a number of cases, minority women (Christian, Hindu and Sikh) and minor girls have been abducted and converted to Islam through Islamic marriage. Contact with their families becomes impossible due to conversion to Islam. Minor girls and minority women under undue influence and stress have been known to produce a statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) in a court that no force had been exerted and that they had, with their own understanding, converted to Islam. It is not out of place to mention that, generally, the lower courts ignored the circumstances surrounding the statement, i.e. lack of involvement with the family, crime involved, etc. It is fair to mention that the court should always, before considering the statement produced by the minority girl, first determine the age and apply the objective test of whether a minor can take the step of converting to Islam.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) recently published a booklet called Forced Marriages: Situation in Pakistan. It contains instances where minority non-Muslim girls were abducted by their Muslim neighbours and forcefully converted to Islam without their consent. For instance, in 1997, three sisters from Rawalpindi were abducted by their Muslim neighbour who converted them to Islam. They were 15, 13 and 11 years old. Their Christian parents approached the local magistrate about the abduction of their daughters. The magistrate gave custody of the girls to their Muslim neighbours instead of their parents on the pretext of their conversion to Islam. In 2003, a minor girl, who was six years old, was kidnapped by Afridi tribesmen in Khyber Agency. The tribe converted her to Islam and said that she could not be handed back to her parents after converting. To date, no serious efforts have been made to recover the girl.

Forced conversion is very common in the cities: three Hindu sisters were kidnapped in Karachi in the year 2005 from their house. Their parents reported the disappearance of their daughters to the local police. The police lodged a report against Muslim boys who were their neighbours and charged them with abduction but later set them free. The parents found out that their daughters were staying in a religious institute. It was believed by the parents that they had been converted to Islam and sent to a religious seminary. The SC ordered the police to provide security to the girls and shift them to an Edhi orphanage from the seminary. I have just quoted some of the known cases of forced conversions from a long list of cases.

In culmination, it is submitted that forced conversion should be confirmed as a crime by enacting legislation. The provisions relating to forced conversion must be incorporated in the CRPC. A parliamentary panel committee recommended legislation on forced conversions in 2012. The report held local police officers, tribal chiefs and politicians responsible for not helping minorities recover their kidnapped community members. Since then, no measure, administratively or in legislation, is planned for discussion in parliament. The government of Pakistan should seriously take up the issues of the minorities of Pakistan. Minorities and women in Pakistan are not safe at all. The constitution is a supreme document and promises equality and freedom of faith to each and every citizen of Pakistan. These fundamental human rights only exist on paper; in practice, they have been used by people with deep pockets and radicals for undermining the minorities of Pakistan. Let us make Pakistan a safe place for minorities and women by ensuring equal rights and freedom to faith. The judgment of the SC is an excellent example and should be conveyed to the general public for awareness.