A married, 35-year-old Muslim neighbor of a 12-year-old Christian girl abducted her and took her to another province, where he forcibly converted her to Islam and married her, her father, Shafique Masih, said. Saba Shafique was abducted by Muhammad Ali from outside her home on Jan. 5, who took her to a different province to marry her. Ali prepared a fake marriage certificate states Saba’s age as 18 years, though her birth certificate states she is only 12 years and 9 months old. The police deliberately recorded Saba’s age as 15 to 16 in their report, aiding Ali in the forced marriage. More than a month has passed since his daughter’s abduction, yet police are making no effort to recover her. Saba’s father has hired a lawyer to try to prove Saba’s age in court using her birth certificate. Christian lawmakers are trying to get the law changed to raise legal age for marriage to 18 from 16 for girls. Another 12-year-old girl named Ariha Gulzar was kidnapped on January 20 by a Muslim neighbor, and the police are not doing anything to locate her. Her parents fear she will be sold into sexual slavery.
Please pray…
Pray that the Lord will help Saba and Ariha return to their families.
Pray that the Lord will give Masih’s lawyer wisdom in how to proceed and that the police will begin to cooperate.
Pray that the Pakistani government will take decisive action against kidnappings and forced marriages and conversion like this and enact a law to raise the legal age for marriage and a law that criminalizes forced marriages and conversions.
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