LAHORE: Women belonging to religious minorities have expressed outrage and condemnation at, what they say, the abduction and forced marriage of ‘minor’ Arzoo Raja in Karachi.

The Minority Women’s Forum (MWF) slammed the underage marriages of girls, especially those from religious minorities, in Pakistan who were abducted and made to change their religion.

“Under the Child Marriage Restraint Act this amounts to statutory rape,” said one of the members of the platform. “The case of Aarzoo Raja, which has recently gained traction is just the tip of the iceberg, but it brings attention to the multiple vulnerabilities of minor girls belonging to religious minorities who suffer the cross-sectional issues arising from social divisions based on class, caste, religion, and gender.”

She said various research studies have repeatedly explained disastrous consequences of underage marriages on the health of the girl child, especially if she has children and her deprivation from education which is a basic right.

“We believe in religious freedom so conversion out of free will is not the problem,” she said. “But if a girl is being abducted and forced to make a statement this is a social evil which has to be eliminated. There are several cases of other underage children who have had to suffer this.”

The Child Marriage Restraint Act must be implemented, she said.

The MWF also demanded comprehensive legal and policy measures at national and provincial levels to stop forced conversions and subsequent marriages of minority minor girls and to ensure that any religious conversion was done without any pressure and with free will as well as comprehensive anti-discrimination measures, legislative, policy and administrative initiatives to protect and promote the human rights of religious minorities, particularly of minority women and girls who often become victims of abduction, rape, forced religious conversion and underage marriage.

Also, the Cecils & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) also released a statement in the aftermath of the Arzoo Raja case, saying that with regard to the recent videos where Arzoo, 13, stating that she was not kidnapped and neither was she forced to convert to Islam, nor was she forcefully married to 44-year-old Ali Azhar and that it all happened with her consent, it could not be emphasized enough that Arzoo is only a minor, and a child.

“They can brainwash her to say anything,” said Michelle Chaudhry. “We have witnessed adults being brainwashed to carry out all kinds of violence, so what stops a child from being brainwashed? A 13-year-old child has no consent in this regard and neither does the law permit it. It is illegal to marry her, and subject her to sexual abuse and rape.”

Ms Chaudhry said that the child and all other such children must be handed back to their parents.

“In the garb of forcing children to convert to Islam and marrying them, pedophiles such as these abductors, are functioning with impunity. It is about time the government intervenes and puts an end to this. Our children need state protection which is their constitutional right.”

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020