A deeply disturbing incident in Shahdadpur, Sindh province, Pakistan, has again created fear within the Hindu community and renewed concerns over the persecution of religious minorities in the country. Four Hindu siblings—three sisters and their brother—were kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam.
The victims are identified as 22-year-old Jia Bai, 20-year-old Dia Bai, 16-year-old Disha Bai, and their 13-year-old brother, Harjeet Kumar. Their mother, desperately seeking justice, publicly accused local computer teacher Farhan Khaskheli of seducing and abducting her children. “I had three daughters, and Farhan took them all,” she stated tearfully at a press conference. She made a specific plea for the return of her young son, arguing he is too immature to comprehend religious conversion, and appealed to PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for intervention.
A viral social media video purportedly showing the children’s conversion has been condemned by community leaders as “cultural terrorism.” Rajesh Kumar, head of the Hindu Panchayat, called the event both a family tragedy and a community disaster, questioning the minors’ capacity to voluntarily change religion given their ages.
Conflicting narratives and legal action
Following family protests, police presented the siblings in a Shahdadpur court. The court ordered the two adult sisters, Jia and Dia (medical students), to be sent to a shelter home in Karachi. The two minors, Disha (15) and Harjeet (13), were returned to their parents.
Pakistani media reported the conversions as voluntary. However, the family and their lawyer contested this, asserting the children were abducted from Shahdadpur, forcibly converted, and recovered from Karachi. They also said that the children were acting under police pressure during the proceedings. Crucially, based on the girls’ statements in court, the two accused individuals, Zulfikar Khaskheli and Farhan, were acquitted of kidnapping charges. The girls are suspected to be under duress and were probably making the statements under pressure.
Decades of systemic persecution
This atrocity underscores a persistent pattern of persecution against Pakistan’s Hindu minority, particularly in Sindh, dating back to the 1947 Partition. Human rights organizations document alarming trends:
- Over 1,000 Hindu girls are abducted annually for forced conversion and marriage, often with alleged police complicity.
- Blasphemy laws are weaponized against minorities for personal vendettas.
- Powerful groups systematically dispossess Hindu families through land grabbing.
Despite reserved parliamentary seats and constitutional guarantees, protections remain unenforced. Political neglect perpetuates vulnerability, transforming Sindh into a hotspot for what international bodies condemn as religious cleansing. Extremists frequently act with impunity, confident of escaping accountability. Experts argue that until Pakistan enforces meaningful legal safeguards and dismantles institutionalized bigotry, Hindus and other religious minorities will remain second-class citizens in their homeland.
