Laiba Javed, threatened with demise if she doesn’t convert to Islam and undergo marriage. (Christian Each day Worldwide-Morning Star Information, courtesy of household)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Each day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – Police in Pakistan on Easter Sunday (April 5) arrested a Muslim accused of threatening to kill a Christian girl if she refused to transform to Islam and marry him, in accordance with her household.
Imran Masih of Chak 6/11-L village close to Harappa, Sahiwal District, stated his 20-year-old niece, Laiba Javed, obtained a handwritten be aware from Rehman Irfan on April 2 demanding that she convert to Islam and marry him by April 15. Within the be aware, Irfan warned that she could be killed if she refused, Masih stated.
Masih stated Javed, who works in Lahore, had returned to her ancestral village to rejoice Easter with kinfolk when she obtained the be aware.
“Irfan, who’s a former schoolmate of Laiba, got here to our home with two armed accomplices when she was alone,” Masih advised Christian Each day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “He handed her a letter at gunpoint stating that he beloved her and would go to any extent to marry her after changing her.”
Javed instantly knowledgeable her household, who approached police. Masih stated officers initially suggested restraint because of Easter celebrations.
Tensions escalated on Easter Sunday (April 5) when a cousin of the suspect allegedly disrupted a dawn procession, prompting the household to once more contact authorities. This time, police responded and raided the cousin’s residence.
“The police went to arrest his cousin but additionally discovered Irfan there and took him into custody,” Masih stated. “He has been booked for issuing threats, however we worry he may very well be launched on bail and proceed to harass us.”
Masih stated Javed has since left the village because of security considerations, although they continue to be apprehensive about her safety. Her mom died a couple of years in the past and her father works as a farm laborer, he added.
Ejaz Alam Augustine, a member of the Punjab Meeting and former provincial minister for human rights and minority affairs, stated weak enforcement of legal guidelines continues to embolden perpetrators concentrating on ladies from spiritual minority communities.
He additionally criticized a Feb. 11 ruling by Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Courtroom that upheld the wedding of a 13-year-old Christian woman, Maria Shahbaz, to a 30-year-old Muslim who had allegedly kidnapped her. The courtroom dominated that Islamic regulation permits Muslim males to marry ladies from Ahl-e-Kitab (Individuals of the E book), a call Augustine stated has heightened fears amongst minority communities.
“This judgment has created a way of impunity,” Augustine stated. “Many now imagine it has put the safety of Christian ladies at better threat.”
Rights teams have lengthy warned of the vulnerability of ladies and ladies from minority religions in 96-percent Muslim Pakistan to pressured conversions and marriages.
Not less than 515 circumstances of abduction and compelled conversion involving minority ladies and ladies have been reported between 2021 and 2025, in accordance with a examine by the Lahore-based Heart for Social Justice. Hindu ladies accounted for 69 p.c (353 circumstances), adopted by Christian ladies at 31 p.c (160 circumstances), whereas two circumstances concerned Sikh victims.
Greater than half of the victims have been between 14 and 18 years previous, and about 20 p.c have been below 14, the report discovered.
In Open Doorways’ 2026 World Watch Checklist, it ranked Pakistan eighth amongst international locations the place Christians face probably the most extreme persecution, citing systemic discrimination, mob violence, pressured conversions and weak regulation enforcement.
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