On a humid July afternoon in Lahore’s Sattukatla neighborhood, 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz stepped out to buy something from the corner shop and never returned. Two days later, her father, Shahbaz Masih — a driver and the sole provider for his family of five children — learned the unthinkable: a local man, […]
Sonja Dahlmans Introduction Every year, between approximately 1,000 and 2,000 minor girls from Pakistan’s religious minority communities are abducted, forcibly married (to a Muslim man), and forced to convert to Islam. The OHCHR expressed its concern regarding the vulnerability of minor girls from non-Muslim families in 2024, stating that: “The exposure […]
On June 11, 2025, a heartbreaking tragedy struck the Masih family in Burewala, Punjab, when their 14-year-old daughter, Elishba Adnan, was abducted from their home. Elishba, a young girl from a Christian family, was taken by 26-year-old Babar Mukhtar, a man with known connections to the family. What followed was a […]