Another Hindu girl abducted from Pak's Sindh province, forced to convert

Another Hindu girl has been kidnapped from Pakistan's southeastern province of Sindh allegedly by Muslim men and her family has alleged that she was forcefully converted to Islam.

This tragic incident follows the case of Namrita Chandani, a first-year medical student from Ghotki town in northern Sindh, who was found lying on a charpoy last month with a piece of cloth tied to her neck while her room was locked from inside.

The police and authorities had tried to downplay the incident by saying that she committed suicide. However, her family asserted that she was murdered.

Namrita's brother, Vishal, a medical consultant, said that the preliminary checkup showed that she was murdered.

The mystery around the murder of Namrita has raised suspicions with people questioning whether it was a case of forced conversion.

In recent times, several cases of forced conversion have come to the fore, highlighting religious persecution in Pakistan.

Every year, around 1,000 young Sindhi Hindu girls between the age of 12 and 28 are abducted, forcibly married and converted to Islam, US-based Sindhi Foundation has said.

In Pakistan, many such incidents are regularly reported where Hindu, Sikh and Christian girls are forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men.

The incidents have come at a time when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is in Beijing to seek China's support for allegations of the so-called widespread atrocities in Kashmir on global platforms ever since the region's special status was scrapped on August 5.

Khan was forced to admit last month that his government's efforts to internationalise the issue had failed to make an impression on world leaders.

However, China, in a bid to cement ties prior to Chinese President's informal summit in south India, has now realigned itself with India's position that Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan to be settled through talks.