In yet another shocking case, a Hindu girl named Sonika Chawla from Larkana was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to her Muslim abductor, highlighting the ongoing issue of forced conversions and marriages targeting religious minorities in Pakistan.

The tragic incident follows the recent case of 13-year-old Roshni Meghwar from Mirpur Khas, Sindh, who was also forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim boy, underscoring the precarious situation of minority girls in the region.

Once a significant population, Hindus have now been reduced to a vulnerable minority, with their daughters becoming prime targets for radical Islamist groups. These groups systematically abduct Hindu girls, forcibly convert them to Islam, and marry them off to their abductors, often men two to three times their age.

The victims frequently face sexual violence and coercion, compounding the trauma of their abduction and forced conversion. Despite the gravity of the situation, international human rights organizations have largely overlooked their plight, enabling the perpetrators to act with impunity.

On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, families of missing persons and civil society groups in Sindh organized protests, demanding the release of individuals abducted and subjected to enforced disappearances by Paki establishment.

The protests, organized by Missing Persons Families, Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh, Sindh Sabha, and the National Workers of the Sindhudesh Movement, drew attention to the widespread issue of enforced disappearances in the occupied Sindh, Balochistan, and the Pashtun regions of Pakistan.

Despite repeated pleas and the inability of the judiciary and executive branches to take action, the organizers vowed to continue raising their voices against the cruelty and human rights violations.

The protesters appealed to international human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations, to take notice and action against the human rights violations in Pakistan.

They also called upon the international community and world powers to support the Sindhi people in achieving their freedom and restoring their independent status from 1843.

The protests brought together families of missing persons, civil society activists, and supporters of the Sindhi independence movement, unified in their demand for justice and an end to the practice of enforced disappearances.

In a massive show of defiance against the Taliban’s presence and harassment by security forces, thousands of residents of Kurram district in Pakistan took to the streets yesterday, demanding peace and rejection of the “Project Taliban”. However, this significant protest remarkably received no coverage from the mainstream media.

The protesters, comprising people from all walks of life in Kurram, raised slogans against the growing Taliban influence and brutalities being inflicted upon the local populace. They criticized both the Taliban militants as well as the heavy-handed actions of Pak security forces operating in the region.

Pashtun leaders have been vocal against Islamabad in promoting religious extremism by providing covert support to the Taliban as part of its regional strategic depths policy, dubbed “Project Taliban.”

However, with no assurances forthcoming from authorities, the people of Kurram continue to live in a perpetual state of fear, caught between the Taliban’s brutalities and the heavy-handedness of security forces.

In a fresh development, Chaman sit-in protestors, who were arrested on June 6 are being severely tortured by Pakistan’s paramilitary force, the Frontier Corps (FC), in detention. Reports indicate that the detained individuals were kept handcuffed for days and their eyes were covered.

The arrested protestors were detained on June 6 when the Pak Army’s Frontier Corps (FC) opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in Chaman, escalating tensions and transforming the protest against mandatory passports into a broader struggle against oppressive tactics employed by the Pakistani establishment.

Chaman protest

Notably, lakhs of Pashtuns have been protesting on the Chaman border for over eight months. They are protesting against the Pakistani establishment’s imposed one-document regime under which the previously functional Tazkira system has been abolished, making passports mandatory for trade across the Durand Line.

Being the most important crossing on the Durand Line, this Pak-occupied Balochistan crossing has been crucial for local traders who were earlier allowed to cross the border with Tazkira (a paper slip permission). Additionally, there are familial ties between the local communities on both sides of the border. The new one-document regime is disruptive to these familial ties.

Unfortunately, no measures were taken to address these delicate issues. Moreover, a large section of the Pakistan-controlled media has neglected this massive protest for an extended period, seemingly waiting for it to die down. Seeing that not happening, the Pak Army and its FC forces have launched a crackdown on peaceful Pashtun protestors twice. On June 6, they not only killed many Pashtuns but also arrested and disappeared dozens.

The latest reports of torture are a further gruesome act by the Pak Army. It is surprising that a self-proclaimed top military force, which boasts of being a nuclear power but has lost all the wars it has fought, is only effective in torturing the people it controls.

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has called upon Pashtuns and all the oppressed nations under the control of imperial Pakistan to a grand rally against violence in Ramzak area of Waziristan on June 22.

The protest rally is being organised demanding the Pakistan Army to stop attacks on Pashtun homeland, especially Waziristan which has witnessed multiple targeted killings in recent days. PTM is also demanding an investigation into these target killings of Pashtuns.

Moreover, the Pashtun rights organisation has demanded to open the road of Ghulam Khan, thereby facilitating the traders.

Notably, Ghulam Khan is a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is the third most important border crossing after Chaman and Torkham. Like Chaman, Ghulam Khan is also closed over the visa issue.

Meanwhile, the Pashtun organisation has reiterated its call to end the plundering of the native resources by the Pakistan Army. In a poster released by them, PTM said the looters of national wealth, who go to military camps should be stopped.

Earlier on May 23, PTM organised a similar rally in Dhaka city after a series of targetted killings in the region. Over a month has passed since then but the Pak Army has failed to address the concerns of Pashtun community which is facing the wrath of the deadly trend as bodies of the community is dropping on the ground every passing day.