Though child marriage overall has decreased in recent decades in Pakistan, there has been a rise in the abduction of underage girls from minority faiths who then undergo a forcible conversion to Islam and ensuing marriage to a Muslim. 

Because of this trend, U.N. experts have recently expressed concern about Pakistan’s forced conversions through marriage and the impunity with which perpetrators operate. 

Though some Sikh girls have been kidnapped, most of the incidents involve Hindu (the second-largest religion) or Christian (the third-largest religion) girls. Multiple reports have said that these types of abductions happen to about 1,000 girls in Pakistan each year. 

But “Isaac,” a Christian from Pakistan, said the real number is significantly higher than that.  

“In most of the cases, people don’t file a report,” Isaac said, explaining that the victims’ families are often threatened into silence, and there is also a pervading sense that pursuing a case through legal means is unlikely to yield a successful outcome. 

One kidnapping incident that reached the media involved a 12-year-old Christian girl who was abducted during a home invasion and forced into a van. Following her conversion and marriage, her ensuing days consisted of being raped, shackled, briefly unshackled to perform household chores, then raped and shackled again.  

A more recent case that gained media traction was that of Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl abducted from her home, then converted to Islam and married to a 40-year-old man. Her case made it all the way to Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court. But in March 2026, the court ruled that her conversion was valid and that she should return to her husband.  

Many outsiders might find it puzzling that a high court could issue such a ruling. But Isaac did not seem especially surprised.  

“Most of the judicial judgments are in favor of the husband,” he noted, adding that from top to bottom, all levels of authority are stacked against non-Muslims.  

The Shahbaz case has left a lasting impact on many religious minorities in Pakistan. Isaac explained that, before her kidnapping, he didn’t notice many Christian mothers walking their daughters to and from school. But after her kidnapping, “I see a lot of mothers go to take their daughters back from the school,” he said. 

Though in some cases the girl is taken by force, many cases involve a much softer initial approach.  

“They are using multiple means to kidnap the girls,” Isaac said. Online methods could involve Facebook, TikTok, or WhatsApp. “Sometimes they pretend to make a friendship first,” he added.  

Aspiring kidnappers might also “send pictures that make themselves look more rich than they are in real life,” Isaac said. The girls targeted for kidnapping often come from impoverished backgrounds, and the promise of a gift or two just for hanging out might prove all too seductive. 

Isaac said some guys on the prowl will just randomly enter numbers into WhatsApp and see what comes up — almost like playing a lottery. If there’s a girl on the other end, they might be onto something fruitful. And if there’s a religious minority girl on the other end, that’s a real opportunity. And a free shot. After all, the chances of any legal consequences are minimal.  

If the girl actually meets up, the momentum will be difficult to break. It’s easy for the aspiring husband to find an official who can issue a certificate saying, incorrectly, that she is of legal marriageable age and ready to embrace Islam.  

Isaac said most girls kidnapped for child marriage in Pakistan do not return to their families. But even when the victim successfully returns home, the crisis likely continues. Now deprived of his victim-bride, the girl’s abductor and his relatives often make threats to do a repeat kidnapping, and also harm additional family members. Many of these families, therefore, must go into hiding. 

The epicenter of religious minority kidnappings is in Sindh province, where, reportedly, almost 80% of such incidents occur. Isaac confirmed that most of the kidnappings take place there, but he said they have become more frequent in other provinces in recent years.  

The year 2025 saw Pakistan pass the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, which criminalizes the facilitation of a marriage involving a child younger than 18. However, this law applies only to the capital city, Islamabad, which contains just 1% of the country’s population. 

Despite its limited applicability, the passage of this bill faced strong backlash. In fact, one conservative Sunni Muslim political party described such a law as “unbearable.” 

That might be an overreaction, seeing as how a similar law has existed for years in Pakistan’s Sindh province, but with limited enforcement, and even less so when the girl is a religious minority.

Isaac said most people in Pakistan have no objection to kidnapping girls from non-Muslim backgrounds. And there is a general sense that this type of behavior is appropriate. After all, “if you convert someone [to Islam], then you make their place in paradise,” he added. “They see it as a good thing.” 

His own viewpoint, however, is different. “As a father, my heart is broken.” 

International Christian Concern (ICC) is helping Christian girls and their families escape these scenarios, providing safe shelter, legal support, and the care they need to break the cycle. You can read additional stories of girls who’ve been kidnapped and forced to marry Muslim men here. 

Story by R. Cavanaugh 

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