A Muslim “suitor” kidnaps a thirteen-year-old Christian girl from Pakistan.

A Christian father in Pakistan reported that his 13-year-old daughter was kidnapped on March 13 following a confrontation with a Muslim who claimed the right to marry her to his 28-year-old son.

Shakeel Masih claimed that his daughter, Roshni Shakeel, refused Muazzam Mazhar’s advances, leading to her abduction from their residence in Basti Khaliq Pura, Multan District, Punjab Province.

Mazhar Abbas, currently working in Saudi Arabia, contacted Masih two months ago and requested Roshni’s hand in marriage for his unemployed son, Muazzam Mazhar.

“It’s in your best interest to surrender your lovely daughter to my son yourself; the ‘Chuhras’ have no power to hinder us from taking her,” Abbas informed Masih, a 33-year-old Christian father. In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the term “Chuhra” is used as a derogatory term for Christians.

Masih said he flatly rejected Abbas’s demand, telling him that under no circumstances would he agree to marry his daughter into a Muslim family, even if she were of marriageable age.

Two days after Roshni’s abduction, local Muslim Bilal Hatim told Masih that he should give up hope of finding his daughter because she had converted to Islam and married Muazzam Mazhar.

Masih sought help from the police, but they refused to take action. As a result, he filed a petition in the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday (March 18), expressing concerns for Roshni’s safety and seeking her recovery. Only then did he learn that his daughter had appeared in court that day and recorded a statement, apparently under severe coercion, as typically happens in such cases, in favor of the suspect.

Masih claimed that the police only verbally informed us of Roshni’s testimony in court. “I have not formally received any document regarding her conversion or marriage. I only know that they have shown her to be 18 years old in the marriage certificate that was allegedly documented on March 11, two days before she was taken.”

The Christian claimed that Abbas, residing in Saudi Arabia with his second wife, orchestrated the kidnapping of his daughter. In contrast, his two sons from a previous marriage lived with their aunt in Pakistan.

“The accused used to force my daughter to befriend him, but she turned down his offers and brought the matter to my attention,” Masih said. “I complained about his lecherous behavior several times, but instead of stopping him, his family encouraged him to continue his evil actions.”

The impoverished Masih, who works as a cleaner at a restaurant, said Roshni had stopped going to school after seventh grade because she did not like to recite Quranic verses taught in the government-run institution.

“Roshni did not feel comfortable in that school because of the overtly Islamic education imparted there,” he said. “Despite my meager resources, I was determined to educate my children and told her that she should continue her studies at home. I will never believe that a girl who did not like Quranic studies has suddenly grown so interested in that faith that she converted. Her conversion and marriage are just a cover for sexual abuse.”

‘Poor Access to Justice’

Highlighting the systemic challenges faced by vulnerable Christians in seeking justice in Pakistan, Masih said police worked hand in glove with criminals.

“The Sital Mari police have shown prejudice from the onset of the case,” he said. “I informed them within minutes of Roshni’s abduction, yet no action was taken for hours. We pleaded with them to stop the abductors from leaving the city, but they refused to budge.”

“Our pleas fell on deaf ears,” Masih said. “It was as if the police deliberately delayed action to give advantage to the abductors. Their connivance in the crime became more evident when, after our hue and cry, they arrested the brother of the accused but released him soon after.”

In a desperate quest for justice, Masih sold household items, including mobile phones and his brother’s motorcycle, to fund efforts to find his daughter.

Human rights activist Joseph Jansen said police and other authorities in Pakistan facilitate crime instead of protecting minor victims from forcible conversion to Islam.