Pakistan: Stolen Girls Part 1

A few weeks ago, we reported on a successful event organized by Jubilee Campaign Netherlands at the European Parliament in Brussels. The high-level discussion came on the heels of an EP resolution on the case of 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl Maria Shahbaz, who had been abducted, forcibly converted, and married against her will one year prior. Namely, both the EP resolution and our event exposed the glaring miscarriage of justice of Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court, which in March this year denied Maria's father's pleas for the girl's release. Instead, the Court instructed Maria to return to the clutches of her abuser, deemed her lawful 'husband' in the eyes of the law.

Unfortunately, Maria's case is not an anomaly; nor is it a new phenomenon. In fact, hardly a month goes by without news of another teenage girl - predominantly Christian and Hindu - falling between the cracks of a biased justice system that allows men more than twice their age to prey on their intersecting vulnerabilities on account of their age, gender, and religious identity. Nearly four years ago, Jubilee Campaign and Voice for Justice published Conversion without Consent, a groundbreaking report on six survivors: Zarvia, Saba, Mehwish, Charlotte, Chashman, and Sunaina. In addition to these harrowing stories, we analyzed a total of 100 similar cases between 2019 and 2022 to find patterns with regards to police inaction, judicial malfeasance, legal lacunae, etc.

Now, in 2026, we publish Stolen Girls, in hopes to revitalize the discourse on this crisis, which continues unabated despite numerous attempts at introducing legislations which would protect faith minority girls from the spate of abduction, forced faith conversion, and child marriage. Over the next few weeks, we will be sending out a few email installations discussing the most compelling and pertinent parts of Stolen Girls, including statistics, stories, and expert insights.

The Numbers

A total of 210 cases related to abduction, coerced religious conversion, and forced marriage involving Christian girls were documented across the country between January 2019 and December 2025. Punjab consistently recorded the highest number of complaints in every year of the study, ranging from 13 cases in 2020 to 38 cases in 2021. The province accounted for nearly nine out of every ten documented complaints, indicating that the issue of forced conversions is particularly severe for Christians in Punjab. This concentration corresponds with the fact that Punjab is home to the largest Christian population in Pakistan, although the figures may also reflect comparatively stronger documentation and reporting mechanisms within the province.

The Stories

• One day in November 2023 while her father was at work, 14-year-old Shifa Rafaqat was abducted from her home in Sheikhupura, Punjab, by her neighbor. Shifa's father Rafaqat Masih appealed to the police for assistance, only to be told that "your daughter will never return to you, Inshallah". Over the next six months, Shifa's kidnapper obtained falsified documentation which effectively renamed the girl Amina, claimed her to be 18 years of age, and listed her 'husband' as 48-year-old Syed Shabbar Ali Gillani. Read Shifa's full story

• 15-year-old Christian girl Saneha Masih was abducted from her aunt's home in Sialkot, Punjab in January 2025. Her kidnapper, Muhammad Anees, was not a stranger but was in fact a local resident. When Saneha's father Yousaf approached police, they showed him alleged marriage and faith conversion certificates, both of which had multiple suspicious date discrepancies. Read Saneha's full story

• In June 2025, 15-year-old Mahnoor was tricked by a factory coworker, Junaid, into believing that their employer, Faisal, wanted them to stop by his residence and receive Eid gifts. With the help of Faisal and his wife Kiran, Junaid coaxed Mahnoor into a vehicle, only to transport her across provincial borders from Punjab to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At Junaid's home, Mahnoor was forced to accept Islam and fingerprint a marriage certificate; she would then be confined to one room for months. Read Mahnoor's full story

The Experts

• Ghazala Shafique: "Socioeconomic conditions and religio-political dynamics strongly shape the pattern of forced conversion and child marriage of minority girls in Pakistan. In practice, older men from nearby localities monitor households where young girls live, watching for times when parents leave home for work, and the girls are alone. When they find such an opportunity, these sexual predators reportedly break into houses and forcibly take the girls to religious institutions, followed by marriage registrars who rapidly issue certificates of conversion and marriage, giving a veneer of legality for what is fundamentally a criminal act." Read Ms. Shafique's full statement

• Hanif Hameed Mattu: "In many cases, abducted Christian girls who are forced to convert are coached about Islam by the accused’s relatives and, at times, by police officers and officials of the Dar-ul-Aman (government shelter homes), to give statements in court that favour their abductors. The girls are encouraged to pray regularly and to study Islamic religious texts, often with the personal aspiration of earning heaven. Such proselytizing goes beyond the lawful mandate of government officials." Read Mr. Mattu's full statement

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