Demand for probe into 'forced conversion' of Hindu girl in Pak

Human rights activists and the mother of a teenage Hindu girl who was allegedly abudcted and forced to convert to Islam today demanded that Pakistan's Supreme Court set up a judicial panel to probe the issue.

A day before the Supreme Court resumes hearing the case of three Hindu women who were allegedly forcibly converted, Sulachana Kumari contended that her 19-year-old daughter Rinkle Kumar had been abducted by persons with links to ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) parliamentarian Mian Abdul Haq and alias Mian Mithoo.

Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club, Sulachana and rights activists demanded that the apex court should set up a judicial commission to establish the truth. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has directed authorities to produce three Hindu women – who were either allegedly kidnapped or forcibly taken away – before it on Monday.

Two of the women, Rinkle Kumari and Lata Kumari, have told lower courts in Karachi that they voluntarily converted to Islam and married Muslim men. However, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, the lawyer representing Sulachana, said Rinkle was forcibly taken away and converted.

"When she appeared before a civil judge in Ghotki (in Sindh province) on February 25, she said she had been kidnapped at 4 am and that she wanted to go back to her family," he said. "The civil judge was scared and didn't record her statement. He sent her to police custody instead," Mandokhail said.

Mandokhail and Amar Lal, another lawyer and rights activist, said the Chief Justice should ask Rinkle whether she wanted to remain with her parents or with Naveed Shah, the man she has married.

Riaz Chandio, a leader of Jiye Sindh Mahaz, said if Rinkle accepts that she was not under duress at the time of her alleged conversion, her family and rights activists would ensure she is handed over to Shah. Speaking to PTI, Amar Lal claimed that 47 Hindu women had been abducted in Mirpurkhas area of Sindh in recent months.

"Many of these women belong to Scheduled Castes and their cases are not even reported to authorities," he said. Minister for National Harmony Akram Masih Gill, a Christian, last week called for stronger legislation to protect minorities from forced conversions.

He alleged that 100 non-Muslim women, mostly Hindus, were forced to convert to Islam in recent months. The forcible conversion of women has been a sensitive issue for the minority Hindu community, which makes up less than three per cent of Pakistan's population of 180 million.

The issue has been brought into focus due to the interest taken by the judiciary and rights groups in the cases of Rinkle and Lata. President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister, parliamentarian Azra Fazal Pechuho, have called for action to prevent forcible conversions.