Pakistan: Teenage girl forcibly converted to Islam awaits justice

While fury over the recent incident of forced conversion of a Sikh girl into Islam is yet to settle, another instance of a teenage Hindu girl who went through a similar ordeal in Pakistan and is awaiting justice since July came to light on Friday.

13-year old Pooja Kumari was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in July by a man identified as Syed Irshad Shah. The matter was brought to light through a tweet by Shirom Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Sirsa.

The tweet accompes a video showing the parents of the teenage girl as saying that they got to know about the forced conversion of their child from one of her school teachers. An FIR was lodged by the parents immediately after, albeit no action has been taken by the police in this regard since then, the parents said.

"I hear helplessness & pain in words of parents of Pooja Kumari- a 13-year-old kidnapped in Hyderabad dist of Pakistan & forcibly converted. Asking those who shout for Human Rights in Kashmir... why silent now? Isn't this gross violation of human rights@ImranKhanPTI Ji @UN @," Sirsa's tweet read.

This is one of the many such incidences of the forced conversion of Hindu, Sikh and Christian girl into Islam in Pakistan. The recent such case involving 19-year old Jagjit Kaur had led to a furore in India with several political leaders across parties demanding action against the perpetrators.

Jagjit is the daughter of Bhagwan Singh, a 'granthi' (priest) of gurdwara Tambu Sahib. She was forcibly converted to Islam at gunpoint and made to marry a Muslim man.

( With inputs from ANI )