Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, including Faisal Mosque. (Fassifarooq, Creative Commons)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A Christian girl rescued from a Muslim in Pakistan who abducted her said he forcibly converted her, sexually assaulted her as part of a sham Islamic marriage and forced her into prostitution.
The forced prostitution resulted in serious health issues for the 16-year-old girl, whose name is withheld as a rape victim.
She said she was taken from her home in the Mananwala area of Nankana Sahib District, Punjab Province by a married 28-year-old Muslim, Muhammad Asim, on May 19.
“I had taken my Class X matriculation exams and used to go to an academy for IT and English language courses when Asim targeted me,” she told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “He worked as a chef at a nearby fast-food outlet and began monitoring my movements. He first tried to manipulate me by offering gifts, but when I refused, he started to harass me.”
Over time his behavior escalated into harassment, she said, and he began intercepting her on the streets and making unwelcome advances. The Christian teenager reported the stalking to her father, impoverished mason Shahzad Masih, but due to fears of potential backlash in their predominantly Muslim neighborhood and concerns over “honor,” he advised her to keep quiet and try to avoid Asim.
Though she changed her route to the academy and often walked with friends for safety, Asim continued to harass her. On the morning of May 19, she was on her way to the academy unaccompanied when Asim forcibly took her away, she said.
“He coerced me into putting my thumb impressions on some blank papers, which he then used to fabricate my false conversion to Islam and marriage to him,” she said. “He then took me to his home, but his Muslim wife refused to accept his ‘second marriage’ and left for her parents’ home along with her two children. In the following days, Asim repeatedly raped me and subjected me to immense physical and psychological abuse.”
Both Asim and his mother made her believe her family would never accept her, and that she had no option but to do whatever they wanted, she said.
“They also began forcing drugs on me, due to which my mind became numb, and I lost my ability to think, gradually falling into depression,” she said.
Seeking to profit from her suffering, Asim brought her to various locations in the district and forced her to sleep with other Muslim men, she said.
“Asim would torture me by tying me to a bed or door and then beat me with slaps and plastic pipes when I refused to do the sex work,” she said. “I was literally trapped in hell, and every day I used to plead to God to give me death because I couldn’t bear this torment anymore.”
Her parents tried their best to search for their missing daughter but were obstructed by institutional bias, said Katherine Sapna of the Christians’ True Spirit (CTS).
“When the girl went missing, her father Shahzad Masih approached the police for help, but they refused to file a First Information Report [FIR] of abduction, telling him that it was a case of ‘love marriage,’” Sapna told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “This is a frequent excuse used to avoid action in forced conversion cases and reflects the systemic discrimination against religious minorities.”
When Masih and his 23-year-old son, who works in Islamabad, found she had been taken by Asim, they began contacting local Muslim elders for support. In retaliation, Asim filed a harassment case against the two Christians and began employing various tactics to threaten them, Sapna said.
After their efforts to recover her failed, the Masih family contacted CTS, whose legal team filed a habeas corpus petition for her recovery in the court of Shahkot Additional Sessions Judge Imran Javed Gill on Aug. 13. Police took both Asim and Masih’s daughter into custody in the early hours of Aug. 14 and kept them at the station overnight, where she fell ill due to inhumane treatment by a female constable, Sapna said.
“She was taken to a hospital for treatment, but even there she was humiliated by the staff for saying that she was forced to become a Muslim and thrust into sex slavery,” Sapna said.
When the victim appeared in court on Aug. 15, the judge upon seeing her poor health ordered her temporary release to her family for medical care, Sapna said.
“Months of sexual exploitation by Asim and other men have caused severe infection in her body, and she can barely walk due to weakness and malnourishment,” she said. “Our priority is to ensure the recovery of both her physical and psychological health and also launch criminal proceedings against the perpetrator.”
Such abuse is an example of a predatory trend of targeting vulnerable Christian girls amid societal impunity for crimes against minorities.
“We strongly urge the government to criminalize forced conversions and also pass the legislation for raising the legal age for marriage of girls to 18 years,” Sapna said. “It also needs to ensure that police take immediate action in cases related to abduction of underage minority girls. These atrocities being carried out against young girls under the cover of religion must not be allowed to continue.”
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
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