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This is the second installment of our email reporting on our new publication, Stolen Girls, which seeks to document patterns of forced conversion, abduction, child marriage, and sexual violence affecting minority girls in Pakistan, and to highlight the legal gaps and institutional failures that allow these abuses to continue. Our findings are based on extensive analysis of 210 cases which occurred across the nation between January 2019 and December 2025.
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Before Their Prime
Many girls between the ages of 10 and 16 are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and then forcibly married to their abductors, who are often presented as bachelors in court records despite being much older and, in some cases, already married and with children. These cases reveal not only the vulnerability of child victims, but also how legal and documentary processes may be manipulated to obscure the true circumstances of abduction and coercion.
Child brides from minority communities face an increased risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse, all of which threaten their rights to education, health, work, bodily autonomy, and religious freedom. The abduction of schoolgirls also interrupts their education and limits access to skills, livelihoods, and opportunities for self-reliance, thereby deepening their long-term social and economic marginalization.
Early pregnancy further intensifies these harms, placing girls at serious risk of physical and psychological complications and making reunification with their families even more difficult. In many cases, abducted girls from minority communities are not accepted by their in-laws as daughters-in-law; instead, they are treated as domestic servants and subjected to continued control and exploitation. As a result, survivors frequently experience trauma, including flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, depression, emotional detachment, and difficulty concentrating on study or work, while also facing rejection from both family and community.
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The 14–17 age group accounted for approximately two-thirds of all documented complaints and remained the largest category from 2019 through 2025. With a mean age of 15.7 years, a median of 15 years, and a mode of 14 years, the data clearly exhibit a deeply disturbing, age-specific pattern that demands urgent and targeted protection measures for vulnerable populations. The concentration of cases among adolescent girls is particularly concerning because many victims are still legally children, are enrolled in school, remain economically dependent on their families, and have limited capacity to resist coercion or seek legal protection. The data also reveal that children below the age of 14 continued to be targeted. Although they represented one-fifth of all complaints, their victimization is especially alarming because of their heightened vulnerability and limited ability to provide informed consent in matters relating to religion and marriage. Several documented victims were as young as seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven years old, underscoring the severity of child protection concerns.
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The Stories
- In May 2025, 16-year-old Sumaira* was abducted while returning home from school by 28-year-old Muhammad Asim; in the weeks preceding the kidnapping, Asim had been making repeated unwanted advances towards Sumaira which forced her to take alternative routes to and from her academy. After bringing the girl to his home, Asim coerced his young victim to thumbprint marriage and faith conversion certificates. Over the course of the next few days, Sumaira would be fed copious amounts of drugs and alcohol which left her in a defenseless state, and sexually abused by Asim and his accomplices. It took persistent efforts on the part of Sumaira's family and a Christian legal aid organization for the authorities to rescue her and arrest Asim. Read Sumaira's full story *pseudonym
- In March 2025, 12-year-old Saba Shafique was rescued from two months of the captivity of a man claiming to be her husband, 35-year-old Muhammad Ali. Upon her recovery, Saba divulged the details of how she became 'wed' to a man 23 years her elder and transported across provincial borders. According to her testimony, Ali had approached her and made promises to take her to a local market and purchase gifts for her. Though Saba initially believed the man, she became suspicious at his true intentions and requested that he return her to her home. Instead, Ali brought her to his home, obtained false documentation alleging her conversion to Islam and their marriage, and forced Saba to film a statement claiming to be 18 years old and warning her family not to intervene. Read Saba's full story
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The Experts
- Lala Robin Daniel: "The most important decisions of a person’s life, such as marriage and religious conversion, are sometimes made within a few hours in these cases. This is deeply disturbing, because religion is a complex philosophy; it normally takes years of learning and reflection for someone to understand and genuinely embrace its beliefs. Yet, it is now common for children to be compelled to make formal declarations of conversion without any prior exposure to the new religion, its teachings, or its language." Read Mr. Daniel's full statement
- Hanif Hameed Mattu: "The government should impose a complete ban on religious conversion and marriage for all persons under 18 years of age. Such a ban would reflect the basic principle that children lack the maturity and legal capacity required to make decisions of this gravity, particularly entering into marriage or changing their faith. Recognizing child marriage and child faith conversions as legally null and void is essential to protect children’s rights, to align with international child protection standards, and to deter perpetrators from using religion as a tool to legitimize exploitation." Read Mr. Mattu's full statement
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