A teenage Hindu girl who was recently abducted from a village in Thar has been forced to convert to Islam and reportedly made to enter a marriage, her family and relatives claimed on Thursday.

The family of the 14-year-old girl told reporters at Islamkot press club that the girl was abducted a few days ago after three armed men barged into their home and held the family hostage.

Hero Meghwar, the said girl's father, revealed that he contacted local people of influence but was told that the girl had converted and married a certain Naseer Lunjo, hence there is little that could be done.

The family members alleged that local police, too, was not interested in recovering the girl. They demanded that the girl should be recovered and produced before a court if she has indeed converted.

But SSP Thar Ameer Saud Magsi maintained that a first information report (FIR) has been registered under Sections 365 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, while raids are being conducted to arrest the three suspects nominated in the FIR.

The SSP revealed that according to a letter he received from elders of the person accused of converting the girl, the girl had converted to Islam at the hand of a pir (spiritual leader) in Umerkot district.

Magsi said not only has the police received a certificate of conversion, a copy of which is available with Dawn, issued by the pir, but also the now-married couple has filed an application in the Sindh High Court, seeking protection. He said the court has fixed the application for hearing on January 17 next year.

The conversion certificate, however, leaves open the mystery of how a 14-year-old from a distant Thar village made it as far as Samaro.

Taking notice of the matter, Sindh Inspector General of Police A.D. Khawaja has directed deputy inspector general Mirpurkhas to immediately submit a report regarding steps taken by the police and details of the inquiry into the case.

With additional reporting by Imtiaz Ali in Karachi.