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Minorities protest Hindu girl’s kidnapping, forced conversion
Minorities protest Hindu girl’s kidnapping, forced conversion
* Relatives say girl kidnapped by son of influential MNA g Threats forced them to flee hometown
By Hussain Kashif
LAHORE: Dozens of people belonging to different minority communities on Thursday jointly held a demonstration in front of the Lahore Press Club to protest the kidnapping and alleged forced conversion to Islam of a girl, Rinkle Kumari.
The protesters said the girl was kidnapped by the son of an MNA from Ghotki district of Sindh. A large number of family members of the kidnapped girl, belonging to Mirpur Mathelo, dirstrict Ghotki, Sindh, were also part of the protest. They claimed that they had been getting threats from the abductors and influential Muslims of the area. The victim’s family said they had taken refuge at a gurdwara in Lahore.
The protesters chanted slogans against the influential people of their area and urged the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh to recover the girl who, the family said, had given statement in the court that she was not willing to convert to Islam and wanted to live with her parents.
The relatives of the girl alleged that a Member of the National Assembly, Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitthu, was backing the kidnappers and had pressurised the local magistrate to get a decision in their favour, ignoring the written testimony of the kidnapped girl.
The father of the girl, Nand Lal, is a teacher at the Government Primary School Yorlund, Ghotki. He told Daily Times that Mian Aslam, son of MNA Mian Mitthu, and his friend, Naveed Shah, kidnapped his 19-year-old daughter from his house last Friday. The girl had passed matriculation examination and was arranged to get married soon, he added.
“Initially, Mirpur Mathelo Police Station refused to register a case against the culprits, but later, after a protest by the relatives, they lodged an FIR and later produced the girl and one of the kidnappers, Naveed Shah, before Magistrate Hassan Ali Kalwar. The girl denied that she wanted to convert to Islam and said that she wanted to live with her parents, but the court sent her to darulaman and the abductor was handed over to police on a one-day remand,” the father of the girl said.
“Mirpur Mathelo police, which is under influence of the MNA, on Monday presented the girl before a magistrate at 8:45am, before the court time. The magistrate immediately handed over the girl to Mian Mitthu’s men, without asking the parents to appear before the court,” the father said. He further said that a large number of armed men were standing outside the court to keep the family from getting there.
Nand Lal said that Mian Mitthu and his political and criminal allies were forcing him to accept the magistrate’s decision and had threatened him that they would kill his family members if he tried to protest against them. He said that threats to him and his family forced him to flee his area. “I could not hold a protest there, that is why I am raising my voice here,” he added.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-3-2012_pg7_16
* Relatives say girl kidnapped by son of influential MNA g Threats forced them to flee hometown
By Hussain Kashif
LAHORE: Dozens of people belonging to different minority communities on Thursday jointly held a demonstration in front of the Lahore Press Club to protest the kidnapping and alleged forced conversion to Islam of a girl, Rinkle Kumari.
The protesters said the girl was kidnapped by the son of an MNA from Ghotki district of Sindh. A large number of family members of the kidnapped girl, belonging to Mirpur Mathelo, dirstrict Ghotki, Sindh, were also part of the protest. They claimed that they had been getting threats from the abductors and influential Muslims of the area. The victim’s family said they had taken refuge at a gurdwara in Lahore.
The protesters chanted slogans against the influential people of their area and urged the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh to recover the girl who, the family said, had given statement in the court that she was not willing to convert to Islam and wanted to live with her parents.
The relatives of the girl alleged that a Member of the National Assembly, Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitthu, was backing the kidnappers and had pressurised the local magistrate to get a decision in their favour, ignoring the written testimony of the kidnapped girl.
The father of the girl, Nand Lal, is a teacher at the Government Primary School Yorlund, Ghotki. He told Daily Times that Mian Aslam, son of MNA Mian Mitthu, and his friend, Naveed Shah, kidnapped his 19-year-old daughter from his house last Friday. The girl had passed matriculation examination and was arranged to get married soon, he added.
“Initially, Mirpur Mathelo Police Station refused to register a case against the culprits, but later, after a protest by the relatives, they lodged an FIR and later produced the girl and one of the kidnappers, Naveed Shah, before Magistrate Hassan Ali Kalwar. The girl denied that she wanted to convert to Islam and said that she wanted to live with her parents, but the court sent her to darulaman and the abductor was handed over to police on a one-day remand,” the father of the girl said.
“Mirpur Mathelo police, which is under influence of the MNA, on Monday presented the girl before a magistrate at 8:45am, before the court time. The magistrate immediately handed over the girl to Mian Mitthu’s men, without asking the parents to appear before the court,” the father said. He further said that a large number of armed men were standing outside the court to keep the family from getting there.
Nand Lal said that Mian Mitthu and his political and criminal allies were forcing him to accept the magistrate’s decision and had threatened him that they would kill his family members if he tried to protest against them. He said that threats to him and his family forced him to flee his area. “I could not hold a protest there, that is why I am raising my voice here,” he added.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-3-2012_pg7_16
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