ICC Note:

Christians in Pakistan are welcoming a new law passed by the country’s Sindh province that will criminalize forced conversions. Many Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan are forcefully converted to Islam each year. According the a report by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace Pakistan, as many as 1,000 Christian and other religious minority women are forcefully converted to Islam annually. Will this new law help curb this issue or will it be used as another tool of persecution as anti-forced conversion laws in India have been used against Christian leaders? 

11/28/2016 Pakistan (Premier) – Forced conversions from one faith to another in a major Pakistan province have been banned.

Sindh’s provincial assembly voted to criminalize those who use force to make people change their religion.

The bill means perpetrators can face five years in prison whilst facilitators could be handed a three year sentence.

According to charities at least 1,000 girls, most of them Christians, are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every year.

Physical, emotional or psychological violence is often used to make another person adopt another religion.

Under the new law anyone converting will be monitored for 21 days “to ensure they are converting for religious purposes and by their own free will, not out of fashion or under force.”

Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, welcomed the new law: “Unequivocally, it is a great step taken by the Sindh government to protect the religious minorities.

“Though it will not stop the ongoing trend in society, it will help to reduce such crimes and it will also build confidence and a sense of security among the religious minorities.

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