Your gift counts double until 5/31: $25,154 to go in our Easter Campaign. Please help now!

Pakistan: Christian girls kidnapped, forced to marry, convert to Islam

CWN - May 30, 2011

Two Christian girls--Rebecca Masih and Saima Masih--were forced to marry and convert to Islam after they were kidnapped by a wealthy businessman on May 24. The kidnapping took place in the northeastern Pakistani province of Punjab.

“Kidnapping Christian girls, conversion and forced marriages have become common practice in Punjab,” said Haroon Barkat Masih, director of the Masihi Foundation, a Pakistani organization that offers legal aid to persecuted Christians. “Kidnapping Christian girls, conversion and forced marriages have become common practice in Punjab. The police have been bought; instead of serving the Punjab government they are servants of extremist groups. Punjab is becoming heaven for these groups: Muslim leaders openly call for violence in their sermons, without shame.”

“We have repeatedly appealed to the Punjab government, without receiving an answer. The government supports these groups.”

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Easter Campaign:
Progress toward our Spring 2013 goal ($25,154 to go):
$80,000.00 $54,845.55
31% 69%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Catholic World News Email Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

The sad decline of self-government 13 hours ago
That impromptu exorcism again 17 hours ago
The Mystery of the Spirit May 21
Against a Facile Assurance of Salvation, the Need for Mystery May 21
Making Sense of Society: The Ebook May 21

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Pope strongly supports call for reform in religious life CWN - May 8