Christian Headlines | Lori Arnold | February 19, 2020
A 14-year-old Pakistani Christian, who was forced to convert to Islam after being kidnapped, has been reunited with her family, an outcome another couple is desperately trying to make a reality for their daughter.
In the most recent incident the girl, described only as Sneha, was kidnapped on her way home from school in Bahar Colony, Lahore on Jan. 14 by a Muslim man, according to the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), an interdenominational organization working for Christians persecuted in Pakistan.
Sneha was thrown in the back of a van and was beaten by six boys who jumped into the vehicle, CLASS reported. Other men also joined in as she was raped, the teenager said. When Sneha refused to sign several blank documents—later determined to be a marriage license and religion conversion certificate—she was tortured.
The captors threatened Sneha with “severe consequences” if she revealed their identities and implied they would also harm her two older sisters. Five days after her kidnapping police rescued Sneha and returned her to her family.
Even though Sneha is reunited with her parents, the family has moved to an undisclosed location as they continue to receive threats from the kidnappers, who are demanding they drop the case against them.
While Sneha has been safely returned, the parents of Huma Younus are still fighting to get back their daughter after a similar kidnapping near Karachi in mid-October. As Christian Headlines reported in December, the Christian eighth-grader was forcibly removed from her home by three men. She was later forced to marry her Muslim kidnapper.
“Our daughters are insecure and abused in this country,” Nagina, Huma’s mother, told International Christian Concern(ICC). “They are not safe anywhere. We leave them at schools or home but they are kidnapped, raped, humiliated, and forced to convert to Islam.”