ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed two sisters Aasia and Nadia – who had converted to Islam from Hinduism in Khanpur after leaving their native town of Ghotki and married to Muslim men, to stay with their husbands.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah held the hearing of the petition filed by the Ghotki sisters.
The report by a five-member commission formulated to determine the facts and age of two Muslim sisters Nadia and Asia belonging to Ghotki was submitted in the high court.
During the hearing, the Interior secretary said that “this does not look like a case of forced conversions.”
“This has become a part of their local culture,” the secretary added.
Justice Athar Minallah said that the minorities should not even doubt that their rights are not protected.
Expressing his trust on the commission, he said that it is clear that the girls are adult and were not converted forcibly.
The court then allowed the girls to stay with their husbands.
The court also ordered the Interior secretary to ensure security of the sisters and their husbands.
Earlier, the court had ordered the state to take over custody of the girls, and they were subsequently handed over to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat after they pleaded with the IHC for protection.
Both girls were transported to a shelter home from the IHC after the previous hearing.
Moreover, their spouses, Barkat and Shafqat, had submitted a request for protective bail to the court through their lawyer Umair Baloch. The plea stated that both had been named in the FIR and their arrests should be stopped.
Earlier, they had filed a petition while rejecting speculations on the media that they were abducted and forced to convert to Islam. Their lawyer had maintained that both sisters are being harassed and facing life threats.
The sisters, hailing from Ghotki, stated that they were impressed by the teachings of Islam for a long time, and they “did not accept Islam under pressure or life threats.”
Videos of the sisters’ Nikah went viral on the social media, in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the Nikah (marriage) of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage. They were shown embracing Islam in the video.
