HinduPACT Calls on Biden Administration to Take Immediate Action to Stop Forced Conversions of Religious Minorities in Pakistan
HinduPACT makes statement following admission by ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan
WASHINGTON, D.C – Following decades of denial, Pakistan has finally admitted to the egregious kidnapping and forced conversion of girls of religious minority communities. HinduPACT calls on the Biden administration to immediately address this issue.
Ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan (2018-2022) has admitted to the forced conversion of non-Muslim girls in Pakistan saying, “There is an ayat (verse) in the Holy Quran [that] there is no coercion in Islam. This is Allah’s commandment. Whoever forcefully converts a non-Muslim is disobeying Allah.” In quoting the Ayat from the Quran, Imran Khan claimed that conversions are “Allah’s commandment.”
Utsav Chakrabarti, Executive Director of HinduPACT, said,
“Hindus are the indegenous communities of present-day Pakistan who have lived there for thousands of years. For the first time we are seeing a former prime minister admitting to a crime that has been going on for 75 years in his country. We ask President Joe Biden to take swift action and employ the help of our allied nations to put an end to this unacceptable practice.”
Deepti Mahajan, Director, HinduPACT’s CHINGARI Project, said,
“This is a ray of hope for the minority girls with Mr. Imran Khan’s statement acknowledging abuse of minority girls in Pakistan. The widespread abuse has been brushed aside for decades and the world needs to pay attention to these voiceless girls who need our help to lead fear-free lives.”
Rakhi Israni, Executive Director of Legal for HinduPACT, said,
“Former PM Imran Khan’s admission that young girls of minority religions are snatched from their parents and forcibly converted is simply further evidence of how ingrained the abuse of Hindus and those of other minority religions is in the entire Pakistani institution. International governments have a duty to intervene and stop this ‘human rights catastrophe’”
On November 26, 2021, a report by the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pakistani Minorities – an informal, cross-party groups formed by MPs and Members of the House of Lords – found that around 1,000 girls between the ages of 12-25 who are not Muslim are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every year and married to their abductors.