By 
01-05-2026 | Oluwatobi Ibikunle | Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
A human rights organisation in Pakistan is calling for justice after a 13-year-old Christian girl was allegedly abducted, forcibly converted, and forced into marriage.
Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP) has expressed concerns and is demanding justice for the abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage of a 13-year-old minor Christian girl from Sahiwal, Pakistan.
Basharate Masih, the victim’s father, registered a First Information Report (FIR) with the local police on January 11th, 2026. She was allegedly abducted on the night of January 10th-11th, 2026. Residents reportedly witnessed 26-year-old Ali Haider Gulzar, along with unidentified accomplices, forcing the minor into a vehicle. Police acknowledged the complaint and initiated legal proceedings, but no satisfactory progress was made.
According to her father, the victim is the youngest of his five children. The incident occurred when her mother was too ill to move, and the girl went outside to do household chores when she was abducted.
On January 22nd, 2026, a second FIR was registered for alleged intimidation and house trespass after associates of Haider went to the girl’s family’s house armed and threatened to harm them if the complaint was not withdrawn.
The issue escalated when the alleged abductor claimed that the minor had converted to Islam and married. The family alleged that the police assisted in pressuring their daughter into making a false statement supporting the marriage. They presented her birth certificate, asserting that she is a minor and that the ruling in favour of the alleged abductor was made without their knowledge and in breach of the law.
The victim’s parents are appealing for justice and claim that their daughter is a minor and legally incapable of consenting to marriage or religious conversion.
Human Rights Focus Pakistan’s (HRFP) president, Naveed Walter, raised concerns about the protection of minor girls from forced conversion, forced marriage, intimidation, and threats to families, as well as the conduct of legal proceedings without transparency and without regard for the minors involved.
HRFP is urging authorities, child protection institutions, minority rights bodies, and international human rights organisations to take immediate action on this case and ensure that child protection laws are upheld.
