Moulvis cry foul as Hindu minor retracts her statement on 'willful conversion' in Pakistan

A section of Islamic clerics in Pakistan is up in arms after a minor Hindu girl Mehak Kumari retracted her previous statement in the court where she stated that she wasn't converted forcefully to Islam.

Mehak Kumari had earlier admitted to willfully marrying Ali Raza and denied any external pressure behind her conversion to Islam.

This, however, sparked major protests from the Hindu community which accuses a government-Moulvi nexus behind widespread conversions in the country and selective targeting of Hindu girls.

Clerics have even demanded a death penalty to the minor who they say is a culprit of insulting Islam. They have rejected the probe and proceedings of Sessions Court and have already moved to the high court.

The clerics have even threatened to go to the Shariat Court if the girl is not brought to justice in a manner they want.

"The girl has renounced Islam and we will be acting as the Sharia law in the future. We have made an appeal in the high court and will be receiving an order tomorrow. If required, we will go to the Supreme Court and the Shariat Court," said one of the clerics while interacting with media.

The court, which has yet not announced its verdict, has sent Mehak Kumari to a local Dar-ul-Aman for eleven days.

The counsel representing the parents of Mehak, who are also the complainants in the case, informed that the court wanted to have a thorough investigation into the case and didn't want to rush the judgment under any pressure.

"The court has not announced any verdict and we have been given a time frame of eleven days. The court has further ordered to keep Mehak Kumari alias Nanki Kumari at a Dar-ul-Aman in Larkana district of Sindh. The next hearing is on February 18. The Additional Sessions Judge has also said that both the parties, the accused Ali Raza Solanki and complainant Ajay Kumar Wadwani will make separate requests to meet the girl. They will meet her separately in the presence of their own counsels," he said.

"We have moved our request to meet the girl. Ajay Kumar and I will be meeting the girl. Ali Raza Solanki has not moved any request thus far. We are hoping for the best to transpire on the 18th of the month. We have a lot of hopes from the judiciary, the judicial system and the government of Pakistan," he added.

While the cases of forceful conversions have always existed in Pakistan, a significant spike has been registered lately. The fundamentalists who hold great sway in the country have been pushing for such practices and have been encouraging youth into doing so.

While Prime Minister Imran Khan has presented several narratives about the condition of minorities in Pakistan, a perennially unsafe and scared minority in Pakistan is a harsh reality.

This is pertinent to mention here that India brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the month of December last year to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from three of its neighbouring countries including Pakistan.