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A 12-year-old Christian Pakistani girl was lured away from her home, kidnapped, then repeatedly raped by her captors for eight months — who now claim that she is married to one of the kidnappers.
Pakistani police
The girl escaped and returned home, however police have warned her parents it would be best if she willingly returned to her captors to avoid “further trouble.”
As a result, the entire Christian family has gone into hiding. She was lured on a shopping trip in the city of Lahore by a friend, but then driven 120 miles to the village of Tandianwalla where she was sexually abused, reports Wil Longbottom in the British newspaper the Daily Mail.
Then she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with one of her captors and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam.
In a special report Asian Human Rights Commission has said the rapists have not been arrested because of their affiliation with a militant Muslim organization – the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. In fact, the report notes:
The police have warned the Christian parents that it would be better to hand over the girl to her ‘legal’ husband (the rapist) otherwise a criminal case will be filed against them.
The child, “Anna” — whose last name has been withheld — is the daughter of Arif Masih, a street sweeper. The commission reports that a friend came to her house and asked her to go shopping:
In the first week of September 2011, more than eight months after her disappearance, Anna called her family from Tandianwalla, district Faisalabad, 190 kilometers from Lahore, and told them that she had been abducted but had escaped and was hiding at a bus stop. The parents went there and recovered her. She was brought back to her home and the parents produced her before the First Class Magistrate who recorded her statement but did not order any action for her protection or a medical checkup.
The rapists then immediately contacted the police through their religious group and produced a marriage certificate showing that one of them, Muhammad Irfan, was married to her.
When her parents attempted to file rape and kidnapping charges, police refused, saying she had married and converted to Islam — although the legal age for marriage in Pakistan is 16.
The parents were told ”it would be better to hand over the girl to her legal husband. If they refused they were told that a criminal case would be filed against them.”
The commission notes:
The Christian family is in hiding from the rapists and the police.
According to the Christian community, the religious extremists, who are from a banned organization, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, are searching them. The abductors are claiming that she is pregnant but her mother denies that this is true.
The British Pakistani Christian Association has launched a petition calling on the Pakistani government to investigate the attack.
posted October 14, 2011 at 5:44 pm
What a heartbreaking story. It is good to hear that her family is standing beside her and have gone into hiding with her rather than hand her over. I have heard stories of other abuse of young girls where the families did not. My deepest prayers are with Anna and her family.
posted October 14, 2011 at 10:10 pm
It’s great!Thanks for posting.
posted October 15, 2011 at 1:51 pm
I hope this story will go around the world and that Christians everywhere will be praying for this courageous family. Only then will those in authority be swayed to follow their own laws (12 years old)!!! This family deserves and needs our prayers. It is our responsibility to share their burden!
posted October 15, 2011 at 8:36 pm
it’s so sad that this is allowed to happen. that government is putting the wishes of those barbarians ahead of what’s best for the girl.
posted October 16, 2011 at 1:30 am
I am Muslim. What has occured above is a disgraceful crime against humanity, irrespective of the religion. Their can be no excuse for it.
Lashker E Tayba is an organisation which has no role in a civilised soceity. It should be banned.
I condemn it.
posted October 16, 2011 at 10:18 pm
This is utterly disgusting. I pray for her and her family. I would have thought this could only happen in some bush in Africa or elsewhere.
The British Pakistani Christian Association should team with whoever can help them conquer this barbaric and devilish, evil act. God will punish all those involved in this act and condemn them to hellfire.Nonsense.
posted October 21, 2011 at 11:25 am
What is there to say,frankly?Pakistani society is so morally askew,so ethically frayed,I’m surprised it hasn’t simply imploded upon itself.These “religious”thugs have the government so cowed they can’t protect its citizens(read Christian citizens)to any degree worthy of the designation? When you read about horrific stories like this,are Muslims really surprised that Islam has the reputation it has,unfair or not? A “religion of peace and justice?” They can’t even use “The West”as a handy scapegoat for the vile,vicious actions of these criminals,and,as usual,any protest from the so-called “Islamic world”at the brutalizing of a 12-year old,helpless child? Of course not;no doubt the perpetrators of these heinous acts are hailed as heros in Pakistan;after all this youngster is just an infidel,another “Christian dog”,right? Frankly,I’ve had enough,and I am beyond outraged.As far as I’m the silence of the so-called Isalmic world over this nefarious affair speaks volumes about Islam as a belief system,and if I never,ever hear the words”Islam”,”Muslim/s”,”Qur’an”,or”Muhammad”again,I’d be the happiest Christian alive.Religion of peace and justice.What a sick,perverted joke.Believe you me,what the failings of Christianity are(and they are many!),no true Christian would ever stand still and remain silent in the face of such a vile,hateful atrocity,so why,why does Pakistani Muslims-Why???
posted November 1, 2011 at 7:02 am
Pakistan is a tribal cesspit still living in the Dark ages. Women are disfigured and/or killed for “dishonoring” the family. At least this poor child is not Muslim; she would have been killed for dishonoring the family by being raped. Christians are in the minority and under strong pressure to convert to Islam. Islam holds such a strong sway in Pakistan that it is not the criminals that kidnapped and raped a twelve year old child who will be charged, but the parents of the underage child will be charged for not returning her to her “husband”; incredible that this is happening in the twenty first century. With Muslims in control of the country, is this really any surprise? I sincerely hope that the child and her family find refuge in another country that is Christian controlled.
posted November 24, 2011 at 9:28 pm
As a Christian women and Grandmother I am sick, just plain sick over this assault and evil attack.I wish I had the means to get this family out of that dammed region.They say in the article they are protecting her name but yet print the last name of the father? These men should be stoned to death!!!I hope that this story gets some mainstream press so that justice and protection are sought for this little girl.I pray that some of you Christians out there who have been blessed with money will take some serious steps to help out this poor child.As they say, put your money where your mouth is. I do not mean to sound so coarse, but I can not stand the complacent nature of believers anymore.And so life marches on.