Christian girl rescued from forced marriage to elderly Muslim man
LAHORE, Pakistan — Javed Masih heaved a sigh of relief last week when he saw his 18-year-old daughter for the first time since she went missing for five months in Pakistan and was forcibly converted and married to an elderly Muslim man.
Sana Javed, 18, the youngest of seven children, had gone to a nearby shop in Lahore, Punjab Province on June 9 but never returned home.
“Our frantic search for her ended in mid-October, when I received a phone call from a Christian in Balochistan Province who informed me about her whereabouts,” said Masih, a Catholic truck driver. He would not see her again until Nov. 14.
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Masih said that a Muslim woman identified only as Hafsa had befriended his daughter on WhatsApp a few days before she disappeared.
“Sana told us that the girl emotionally blackmailed and forced her to meet in person without her family’s knowledge,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “She even sent her money and directed her to board a bus to Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. From there, Sana boarded another bus to cross into a remote village in Balochistan Province.”
When Sana Javed reached Hafsa’s house, she was immediately deprived of her phone and held hostage, he said.
“A cleric was called, and Sana was forced to recite the Kalima [proclamation of conversion to Islam] and marry an elderly Muslim man under threats of violence,” he said. “She later found out that he was a maternal uncle of Hafsa.”
Three days after filing a report with police the same day of her disappearance, the family discovered officers had misplaced it, he said. Masih filed a new report and police registered a First Information Report (FIR), but officers made no effort to find her, he said.
“He would instead ask us to provide leads for the investigation, when in fact we neither had the information nor the resources,” Masih said.
Putting their trust in God, family members began asking others to pray along with them for her return, he said. They began visiting various pastors and churches for prayer support, and finally their prayers were answered when Masih received a call from a Christian schoolteacher in Balochistan Province identified only as Waseem. The teacher told him his daughter was in his village, and that a local politician had contacted him to help find her family.
The Muslim politician had received information from a female family member about her, Waseem told Masih.
“I do not know the man’s name, but God used him to rescue our daughter from captivity,” Masih said of the Muslim politician. “When I informed the police about my daughter’s location and sought their help, they told me that they would need official permission and resources to travel to another province. I contacted a Christian paralegal group for help, and I’m grateful that they provided us with legal and financial support to help bring Sana back to Lahore.”
A legal team from Christians’ True Spirit (CTS) accompanied police and the family to the village in Balochistan, where they recovered Sana Javed on Nov. 14, he said.
“I cannot express my gratitude for the Baloch political leader and Waseem, the schoolteacher, who not only helped us in rescuing Sana but also forced her ‘husband’ to sign an affidavit of divorce,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The Muslim [political] leader also used his influence to ensure the security of the visiting team who otherwise could have faced resistance from the hostile villagers.”
Sana Javed said she hoped others would learn from her ordeal to be cautious about befriending others on social media.
“I’m unable to explain how she managed to influence me to make this huge mistake of leaving my home,” Sana Javed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “I was forced to convert to Islam and put my thumb impression on the marriage certificate. They said they would kill me if I did not obey their order.”
Prayers kept her hope of returning home alive, she said, adding that despite her circumstances, she found solace in hymns and some biblical verses that she had memorized in church.
“There were times when I would slip into depression, but then I would recite Psalms and verses, and it helped in uplifting my spirit,” she said.
The U.N.’s Human Rights Committee on Nov. 7 expressed concern about persistent reports of abduction and forced marriages of girls from minority religions, regardless of their age and prevailing law. Forced to convert to Islam under threat of violence, they suffer rape, trafficking and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence.
The U.N. body expressed concern about reports of the widespread impunity surrounding these cases.
“Victims are usually not returned to their families during investigations but forced to stay with their abductors, including members of organized criminal groups, or placed in unnecessary and inappropriate alternative care facilities, with no or limited regard for child protection standards, exposing victims to further risk of exploitation, abuse and harmful practices,” the committee stated in its concluding observations on Pakistan’s second periodic review of human rights situation earlier this month.
It urged Pakistan to intensify efforts to eradicate forced conversions and marriages, including strengthening its legal framework and enforcement mechanisms.
“The state party should also ensure that all allegations of forced conversions and forced marriages of girls are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated, that those responsible are brought to justice, and that all victims have access to effective remedies and support services such as adequate shelters, legal aid, psychological counselling and rehabilitation programs,” it stated.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.
Originally published at Christian Daily International–Morning Star News
