PLEASE PRAY: Christian teen abducted by Muslim, hiding with family after court orders to go back to abductor [#PakistanPersecution #ChristianPersecution] 08/30
3 weeks after the Lahore High Court ordered a minor Christian girl Maria Shahbaz to return to the ‘custody’ of her abductor and ‘husband’ Muhammed Naqash, the 14-year-old girl had reportedly gone into hiding with her family in Faisalabad in Pakistan.
Maria Shahbaz had fled with her mother and 3 siblings.
The development came at the backdrop of a recent ruling by the Lahore High Court which overturned the verdict of the Faisalabad District and Sessions Court to put the minor girl in a women’s shelter home, Dar ul Aman.
Confirming the development, journalist Sachin Jose tweeted:
“14 year old Pakistani Christian girl Maria Shahbaz has escaped from the home of her abductor, Mohamad Nakash. While in custody she refused to renounce her Catholic faith. Maria’s family has filed a police complaint against her abductor.”
14 year old Pakistani Christian girl Maria Shahbaz has escaped from the home of her abductor, Mohamad Nakash. While in custody she refused to renounce her Catholic faith. Maria's family has filed a police complaint against her abductor. pic.twitter.com/mLgrwb5DEx
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) August 26, 2020
Maria Shahbaz was abducted by one Mohammed Naqash on April 28, 2020.
The 14-year-old girl was then drugged, raped, forcefully converted to Islam and married off to her perpetrator.
Eye witness accounts by Pervez Masih, Younas Masih, and Naeem Masih state that Maria Shahbaz was forcibly abducted in a car while she resisted.
The men were armed and therefore the eyewitnesses could not help the victim.
The accused also fired shots in the air.
Reportedly, Maria Shahbaz was forced to sign blank papers which were later used by Mohammed Naqash to procure fake marriage and conversion certificates.
Maria Shahbaz was forced into silence by the abductor with threats of releasing her ‘rape video’ on social media.
“They threatened to murder my whole family. My life was at stake in the hands of the accused and Nakash repeatedly raped me forcefully.”
– Maria Shahbaz had confessed
In the forged marriage certificate, Mohammed Naqash had listed the age of the victim as 19.
However, Maria Shahbaz’s parents had produced her birth certificate and other key documents to the Faisalabad court, proving that she is a minor.
Moreover, there are other discrepancies in the marriage certificate. As per the report, the certificate named one ‘Islamic cleric’ who denied having anything to do with the said marriage.
Even though marriage to a minor child is a punishable offence under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, Mohammed Naqash was granted relief by Judge Raja Muhammad Shahid Abbasi of the Lahore High Court.
As a part of the modus operandi, a typed statement that Maria Shahbaz had left her home willingly was also produced.
“Maria is traumatized. She cannot speak. We want to take her to the doctor, but we are afraid we might be spotted. We are all very frightened, but we place our trust in God.”
– Lala Robin Daniel, a family friend of Maria, quoted as saying to ACN (Aid to the Church in Need)
The Christian organization had also got in touch with Maria Shahbaz’s lawyer, Khalil Tahir Sandhu and received a copy of her statement to the police.
While Khalil Tahir Sandhu had sought the arrest of Mohammed Naqash for sex crime and cancelation of marriage certificate, the accused has demanded the arrest of Maria Shahbaz’s family for supposedly ‘kidnapping the girl’ and taking her away from him.
HIDING WITH FMAILY: Christian teen abducted by Muslim, hiding with family after court orders to go back to abductor [#PakistanPersecution #ChristianPersecution] 08/30
Christian News and Views.com