Islamabad, September 1, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A Pakistan court has come under criticism from Christian rights advocates for granting custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl to a man accused by her family of kidnapping her, forcing her to convert to Islam and marrying her.
The girl, identified as Amber Nadeem, was allegedly abducted by Mohsin Liaqat on June 12, according to rights activist Joseph Janssen. After her family filed a police complaint, authorities recovered Amber and placed her in protective custody at a Gender-Based Violence Unit, while Liaqat was arrested.
At an initial hearing before a judicial magistrate on June 27, Amber allegedly told the court that Liaqat’s family had pressured her to claim that she was an adult. The defence subsequently produced documents relating to her conversion and marriage that recorded her age as 18.
Amber’s family and lawyers disputed the documents, pointing out that her parents had married in 2012. The magistrate ordered a medical examination to establish her age and sent the girl to a government shelter.
Janssen said the age-assessment report was not produced before the magistrate. He alleged that Additional District and Sessions Judge Rana Sohail subsequently granted custody of Amber to Liaqat and approved his bail.
The judge also accepted a fresh affidavit in which Amber reportedly stated that she had converted to Islam and married Liaqat of her own choice and had not been kidnapped.
Minorities Alliance Pakistan Chairman Advocate Akmal Bhatti, Voice of Justice Chairman Joseph Janssen, Advocate Haroon Michael, Sadaf Adnan and Amber’s mother, Nadia Nadeem, criticised the decision and raised concerns over the discrepancies surrounding the girl’s age, conversion and marriage. They warned that returning the child to the accused could expose her to further coercion and abuse.
The case comes amid wider concerns over the alleged abduction and forced conversion of girls from religious minority communities in Pakistan. In July, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging Pakistani authorities to address such cases and establish a national mechanism for complaints involving abducted or forcibly converted minority girls.
Citing United Nations data for 2025, the resolution said Christian girls accounted for nearly 25 per cent of cases involving forced religious conversion through marriage.
The European Parliament also referred to the case of 13-year-old Christian girl Maria Shahbaz, who was allegedly abducted in July 2025 by 30-year-old Shehryar Ahmad and forced to convert to Islam and marry him. The resolution raised concerns over allegations of falsified official documents and evidence indicating that Maria was underage, while criticising a court decision that returned her to the accused.
FOLLOW NOW
