Pak Hindus turn to social media to raise girls' conversion
Netizens in Pakistan are seeking to grab the global attention by raising the growing incidents of abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls. In the recent case, Mehak, a girl from the minority community, was kidnapped from the Jacobabad district in the Sindh province on January 15 and converted to Islam.
When the local and the national media ignored the incident, the minority community took to social media to raise the issue and appeal the liberals in Pakistan to stand with Mehak.
The community has created a page on Facebook - Pakistani Hindus Youth Forum - which has garnered 30,702 likes.
On Saturday, a post on the page read, "The Pakistani Hindus are facing religious persecution. A 14-year-old class IX girl student, Mehak Kumari, was kidnapped a few days ago. She was seen in Amarot Sharif with some mullahs. The mullahs are claiming that she fell in love with Ali Raza Solangi."
"Solangi is married and has a child. He works as a labourer. Now the girl has been converted. Can someone please tell how a daughter of a businessman fell in love with someone who is illiterate and works as a labourer? Why will she agree to leave her house and her religion for a man who is already married?" the post read.
Such incidents were occurring repeatedly but no action had been taken, it said.
Another post carries the list of minority community girls kidnapped and converted. The list had 50 names, the last one was of Mehak.
This is not the only page pointing to such incidents. Another page - Sindhi Hindu Student Federation of Pakistan - is also trying to keep alive the abduction and forced conversion of Mehak and other girls.
