![\"Laiba](\"https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Laiba-Suhail.-Courtesy-of-family.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLaiba Suhail. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
LAHORE<\/strong>, Pakistan<\/strong>\u00a0(Christian Daily International<\/a>\u2013<\/em>Morning Star News<\/a>) \u2013 The Christian parents of a 10-year-old girl in Pakistan who was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam last month fear she could be sold to sex traffickers, sources said.<\/p>\n A month after Laiba Suhail was abducted from her home in Chak 233-RB Ikhlaq Town, Faisalabad District, Punjab Province on Feb. 12 by four non-Muslims at the behest of a Muslim, Shaukat Shah, officials have refused to prosecute, said her father, Suhail Masih.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shah is well-known in the area for forcibly converting children to Islam under duress, coercing them to file court statements that they willfully converted and later taking them from shelter homes on the pretext of giving them religious education, Masih said.<\/p>\n A court sent his daughter to a women\u2019s shelter at her request after police on Feb. 15 informed Masih that she had filed an application claiming she had converted to Islam. Masih said that he has learned that Shah has taken custody of her from the shelter.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Shah\u2019s modus operandi,\u201d Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. \u201cNo one knows what happens to his victims after they are handed to him. We fear that he and his accomplices are involved in sex trafficking, and they sell these minor girls when they see that the families are in no position to pursue the matter further in courts.\u201d<\/p>\n He lamented that the Roshan Wala Police Station has not taken action to recover his daughter despite the family\u2019s registration of an abduction case against Shah.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Feb. 15, police informed us that an application had been filed by Laiba in the court of a magistrate in which she had claimed that she had converted to Islam of her own free will \u2018after being impressed with Islamic teachings,\u2019\u201d Masih said. \u201cWe immediately went to the court where we saw our minor daughter surrounded by several policemen. We were not allowed to talk to her despite our repeated requests. The police later presented her before the magistrate where she reportedly repeated the contents of the application. She also sought to be sent to the Dar Ul Aman [women\u2019s shelter], which the magistrate admitted.\u201d<\/p>\n Masih said that the family looked on helplessly as Shah and police took his daughter to the shelter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could not do anything after Laiba\u2019s statement before the court, which I believe was extracted under duress,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were not given any opportunity to ask her under what circumstances she was forced to give this statement.\u201d<\/p>\n Masih questioned how a 10-year-old girl could convert to Islam willingly when she did not even have basic education, let alone a religious one.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a blatant lie that my daughter has changed her faith willingly,\u201d he said. \u201cWhatever little religious education she has is from the church\u2019s Sunday school. She has had no interaction with Muslims, because she used to stay at home all day long to take care of me and her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n Masih, a member of the Church of Pakistan, is crippled in both legs, and neither he nor his wife are able to work due to health problems, he said.<\/p>\n Christian attorney Sumera Shafique told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that the impoverished family should immediately file a motion with the high court for the recovery of Laiba. The family has yet to find an attorney to help them.<\/p>\n \u201cLaiba\u2019s case is yet another example of how sharia<\/em> [Islamic law] is invoked to undermine the age of a minor,\u201d Shafique said. \u201cIn her statement before the magistrate, the girl claimed that she\u2019s an adult, but her official birth document states her age is 10 years and two months.\u201d<\/p>\n The attorney has recovered several Christian children who were victims of forced conversion and forced marriages, including Maira Shahbaz<\/a>, who was kidnapped and forcibly converted in 2020.<\/p>\n Shafique said she regretted that victim families, who are often illiterate and poor, are used by local activists for their own self-interests, which damages the cases and results in prolonged delays in recovery of abducted girls.<\/p>\n \u201cThe victim families should immediately seek legal help instead of turning to touts who are focused only on making money from their plight,\u201d she said. \u201cIn this case, a month has passed, but the family has reportedly not been able to meet their daughter even once.\u201d<\/p>\n A habeas corpus petition must be filed immediately in the Lahore High Court, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe child is hardly 10 years old, and I believe the high court will take her conversion matter very seriously,\u201d she said, adding that timely legal intervention could help save the girl from further sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n Masih said four non-Muslims working for Shah \u2013 Irfan Masih, Khurram Masih, Aneeqa Masih and Grace Masih \u2013 abducted Laiba from his home around midnight while the family was asleep.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter my daughter\u2019s abduction, we came to know that this gang was also involved in several other incidents of abduction and forced conversions of minor Christian girls in Faisalabad,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have managed to evade legal action due to the influence of Shaukat Shah, who is notorious for carrying out religious conversions of minor girls.\u201d<\/p>\n The 55-year-old Christian said his oldest son, who is 25, is a daily wage laborer who is sole breadwinner for the family. Laiba is the youngest of his three children and was born 12 years after his second child.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to pull Laiba out of school early on because we were not able to afford her education due to our meagre financial resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Masih said he is determined to rescue his daughter at all costs.<\/p>\n \u201cI appeal to the Christian leadership to step forward and help me in saving my minor daughter,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s just a child who has fallen victim to these predators masking themselves as religious leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors\u2019 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.<\/p>\n If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/resources\/aid-agencies\/<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/donate\/<\/em><\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n \u00a9 2024 Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. 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