ICC Note: A Christian woman in Pakistan has been reunited with her family after being kidnapped, raped, and forcefully married by her Muslim landlord.
Christian women in Pakistan are often seen as easy targets because of the low social status assigned to them due to their gender and religious identity. As many as 1,000 women from Pakistan’s religious minorities are abducted, forcefully married, and forcefully converted to Islam every year.
The disturbing trend continues to go under reported and has not been confronted by the international community. Until taken on, thousands of women will continue to face this abuse in Pakistan every year.
2/17/2016 Pakistan
(Gospel Herald) – Fouzia Sadiq, a Christian living in Pakistan with her three children, had managed to escape a horrible ordeal which lasted for two days.
According to Sadiq and other reports, she was kidnapped by her family’s Muslim landlord and was forced to marry him. According to CBN News, Sadiq and her family were sold by their grandfather to Muhammed Nazir for about $43 each.
They’ll only be able to attain their freedom if they manage to pay off Nazir for around $1,440 for each family member.
Under this agreement, which constitutes as slavery, Sadiq is required to work at the brick kilns of Nazir as a bonded laborer.
Although this practice has been deemed illegal in Pakistan since 1990, it still continues today due to the lack of proper actions by authorities.
Sadiq’s horrible experience occurred in July last year when she was called by Nazir to clean his home as he was expecting guests. But, after she didn’t return home on that day, her family feared that something might have happened to her.
Her brother Paris visited Nazir’s house to ask for her whereabouts but he was forcibly sent away.
The family soon learned that Sadiq was forced by Nazir to marry him. Fortunately, her relatives got in touch with the British Pakistani Christian Association or BPCA which secretly got in touch with Sadiq to organize her escape.
Through the efforts of the organization and her brother, Sadiq was able to flee from Nazir’s house and now she and her family have been placed under the protection of the BPCA.
According to the victim, for days, she was tortured and raped by Nazir.
Pray for Her recovery
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