KARACHI: Expressing its concern over increasing cases of violence against women, the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) through a statement called upon religious and political leaders to use their platforms to create awareness of forced conversion and to help curb such violations of human rights.

“Islam does not accept forcible conversions, and this lesson should be drilled into people’s minds by local clerics and mosque Imams. Similarly, political parties must educate their workers. They must utilise their potential to make serious efforts to make a difference in Sindh by not only raising this issue and standing with religious minorities, but also by influencing their followers and voter base to see such conversions as inherently wrong and against the spirit of Islam and brotherhood,” says the commission’s statement issued here recently.

It condemned the “forced conversion of minors Reena and Raveena and their underage marriages” and called upon the chief minister to speed up the process of approving the laws reviewed by the commission by placing them on the agenda of cabinet meetings on a priority basis.

According to the statement, a lack of quality education for girls and absence of effective redressal mechanisms are the key causes of continued violence against women in Sindh.

On its part, the commission plans to hold consultation with relevant stakeholders in Sindh on a law to discourage forced conversions and will soon start a training of Nikah khwans [Nikah registrars], pandits and pastors for effective implementation of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act.

In the light of this state of urgency, it is important now more than ever to pass a comprehensive law against forced conversions and subsequent underage marriages. The Sindh assembly had tried once to do so in 2016. It is high time that all stakeholders should be brought on board and the assembly legislates on this matter, says the statement.

Police training

According to the commission, the recent cases of gender-based violence have again highlighted the urgency to sensitise the police on this sensitive issue.

“The police must be sensitised to be receptive to complains of forced conversions and not to belittle the issue. When parents reach out to police in such cases they are desperate and worried for the life and safety of their daughters. It is no small worry and sensitisation training programmes will greatly improve the capacity of police to responsibly deal with such cases,” it says.

Another factor feeding into the problem, as identified by the commission, is the gap in registration of citizens.

The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), it says, has an important role to play in this regard as initiatives to proactively register births will greatly reduce exploitation of young girls.

“As it stands right now, many children in Sindh are not registered and in cases of underage marriages, false birth certificates are produced that falsely state the age of the child-bride to be above 18. In the case of Raveena and Reena, both do not have birth certificates, and neither do their other three sisters. Computerised records of children at birth will eliminate the validity of false certification and help in implementation of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act,” it argues.

It also calls for some form of inter-provincial systems to prevent exploitation of lesser legal age for marriage in other provinces.

“It’s a trend that underage girls are kidnapped from Sindh, where the legal minimum age for marriage is 18, and taken to Punjab where the age limit is 16. This worrying trend needs strong mechanisms rooted in inter-provincial cooperation,” it says.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2019