Pakistan Christian Couple Accuse Local Leader's Son Of Abducting, Marrying Off Minor Daughter

A Christian couple here has accused the son of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader of being involved in abducting, forcibly converting and marrying off their "underage" daughter.

The couple in a video message on Wednesday alleged that a resident of their locality had kidnapped their daughter stating that the son of a local leader was involved in the abduction, Dawn reported.

The girl's mother Noreen Maseeh also said that the Ghazi police has not registered an FIR and urged her not to pursue the case insisting that her daughter had eloped with the accused and converted to Islam before marrying him in the court. "My daughter is a minor child, who can't be married off under the law," Noreen Maseeh said. She said her daughter is a ninth-grader who went missing from her room at around 12:45am on August 3 while preparing for her exam which was to be held the next morning. Meanwhile, the Ghazi police officials said that the preliminary investigation showed that the Christian girl had solemnised court marriage in Swabi after converting to Islam of her own free will, but he has not received any documents about this, Dawn reported citing SHO of Ghazi police station.

In recent years, there has been a surge in attacks on the place of worship of religious minorities in Pakistan. The country has been repeatedly slammed by the international community for not safeguarding the interest of its minorities.

In a recent development, a mob comprising over a dozen men armed with sticks had vandalised a Hindu temple in village Bhong of Rahim Yar Khan, shouting slogans and desecrated idols in the place of worship.

Pakistani lawmaker and Hindu community leader Ramesh Kumar Vankwani shared videos of the incident. In one of the videos, the mob can be seen destroying the infrastructure of the temple.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)