“The merciless murder of Abida and Sajida is a tragedy that shows how the lives of religious minorities in Pakistan are held by a thread or is worthless. Rape, kidnappings, forced conversions and even murders of young Christian girls are worrying phenomena. The government must not deny this and has the duty to stop the violence against Christians.” This is what Nasir Saeed, Director of the NGO CLAAS (Centre for Legal Aid Assistance & Settlement) said in a note sent to Agenzia Fides, commenting on the case in recent days which has provoked outrage and the protest of the community of the faithful in Pakistan.
Two young Christian sisters, Abida, 26, and Sajida, 28, residing in the Christian neighbourhood of Makhan, near Lahore, were murdered last December after stubbor-nly refusing to convert to Islam. Police arrested two Muslims, Mumtaz Khan and Muhammad Naeem, suspected of killing the women. As Fides learned, Mushtaq Masih, Sajida’s husband, reported that the two sisters worked in a medicine factory and that they disappeared on Nov. 26, 2020. The family filed a formal complaint following their disappearance, reporting to the police his fears of kidnapping, as the two sisters had indicated that they had been often sexually harassed and had received from two work colleagues, Muhammad Naeem and Mumtaz Khan, the request, always rejected, to convert to Islam. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has pledged to ensure minorities are safe and happy in Pakistan. When we see cases of false accusations of blasphemy, kidnappings, forced conversions and murder of Christian girls, it must be emphasized that, in practice, this is not true and that the condition of Christians in society is getting worse” (PA). Nearly 1,000 girls from religious minorities who are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year, largely to pave the way for marriages that are under the legal age and non-consensual.