KARACHI – A Hindu woman and her six children, including two adolescent daughters, ‘converted’ to Islam on the day they were reported missing to the police by the woman’s husband.
Radha (36), her daughters Mira (16), Pira (15) and Piya (14) and sons Amar (10), Jay Ram (7) and Gopal (4) went missing on Sunday (May 7). Radha’s husband Ramji Meghwar was informed nine days later that his wife and children have converted to Islama and a local seminary provided the certificate of conversion.
Ramji found his wife and children missing when he returned home from work at 4:30pm on May 7. He tried to call his wife and the eldest daughter on their phones, but found their phones switched off. He filed an FIR with the Gulbahar Police Station. A low-income suburb called Gulbahar, also known as Golimar, is located close to the Lyari River.
Radha was working as a domestic help at a home in the affluent neighbourhood of Clifton, around 15 kilometres from Gulbahar. Ramji inquired about Radha at her place of work but couldn’t find her there too, according to his statement to the police.
According to the FIR lodged by Ramji, an unidentified person or persons lured his wife and children away with the intention to rape them. The FIR was filed under Section 496-A of the Pakistani Penal Code.
Ramji came to know about the “conversion” of his wife and children for the first time when he received a copy of the conversion certificate issued by the Jamia Binoria Aalamia, a renowned seminary in Karachi.
The New Muslim Foundation, a subsidiary of the Jamia Binoria Aalamia, stated in the conversion certificate that Radha and her six children had converted to Islam “of their own free will” on May 7.
The certificate revealed the converts’ dates of birth as well as their old and new names. It said that Mira had changed her name to Fatima and Radha to Rida. Piya became Nimra and Pira became Mah Noor. Jay Ram became Ayan, Gopal became Zeeshan and Amar became Umar.
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