IHC allows two sisters who embraced Islam to live with their husbands

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowed two girls who embraced Islam to live with their husbands on Thursday. Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that it had been proved that both girls were adult and not forcibly converted to Islam. “The task was assigned to the commission for the satisfaction of minorities,” he remarked. Earlier, the Interior secretary submitted his report in court and stated that they had received the medical board’s report. “According to the report, the age of Asia and Nadia is 19 and 18 years respectively,” he said. The secretary told court that the girls were not forcibly converted to Islam. The court has ordered the inquiry commission to submit its report and final recommendations till May 14. The government took notice of this controversy after two separate videos were circulated on social media in which the girls’ father and brother said they were abducted and forcefully converted from Hinduism to Islam. A separate video of the girls in question was circulated in which they claim they converted of their free will. The police detained seven people, including the nikah khwan, suspected of involvement in the abduction, forced conversion and underage marriage of the two sisters in Ghotki. The petition was filed by the two girls and their spouses, Safdar Ali and Barkat Ali. It cited the state minister for interior, Sindh chief minister, inspectors general of Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad police, MNA Ramesh Vankwani and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) as respondents. The petitioners asked the court to restrain the respondent authorities from ‘harassing’ and ‘threatening’ them, as well as requesting that Pemra be asked to refrain from ‘promoting propaganda’ against the petitioners. According to the petition, the two girls were born in a Hindu family and converted because they were impressed by Islamic teachings. It claims they did not inform their family because of consequential threats to their lives. The petition said that the girls left their home on March 20, and claimed that MNA Vankwani and Hari Lal from the Hindu Council concocted a false and fabricated story about their forceful conversion. The petitioners subsequently left their native town of Ghotki in Sindh and travelled to Khanpur in Rahimyar Khan, Punjab. The petition said that on March 22, after announcing that they had willingly converted, the girls sought legal help. They travelled to Islamabad after learning that the inspector general of Sindh and Punjab were planning an operation in Khanpur against them and, the petition claims, feared that the police may kill them if they are apprehended to show “progress” to the governing party.