MITHI: The parents of a Hindu woman, who reportedly embraced Islam a few days back, urged the authorities concerned on Thursday to help recover their “kidnapped” daughter.

The couple, belonging to the Meghwar community, speaking at a press conference in the Islamkot Press Club alleged that their 14-year-old daughter was abducted by three armed men, led by Naseer Lunjo, who barged into their house in Aban Jo Tarr village.

Accompanied by several of their relatives, the couple claimed that the intruders held all inmates at gunpoint and took away their daughter. They said they approached the village elders and area police who told them that they could not help because the woman had already contracted a free-will marriage.

Thar SSP Ameer Saud Magsi, when contacted for his comment, said that the woman had married Naseer Lunjo of her own will and the couple had also moved the Sindh High Court for protection fearing a hostile act from the woman’s close relatives, who had lodged a kidnap case against Lunjo and his two associates at the Islamkot police station.

SSP Magsi further said that Lunjo’s family produced a document suggesting that the woman had converted to Islam at the hand of Pir Ayub Jan Sarhandi at his seminary in Samaro town of Umerkot district.

The police officer said that the hearing of the new couple’s application for protection was fixed for Jan 17, 2018. He also mentioned the new Islamic name adopted by the woman.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2017