Forced Conversions or Faith Conversions?

Since the origin of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam made one thing transparent to the utmost degree that one should not be restricted to follow his religion and every resident of the country should be given all and equal rights. Following the principles set by the father of the nation, the government of Pakistan has never made any attempt against the rights of minorities.

Last year Pakistan was designated as a "country of special concern" by the US State Department for violations of religious freedoms, a label that the Pakistani government opposes. The finding shows that the problem of forced conversion is much more complicated than the media reports claiming that nearly 1,000 Hindu and Christian girls are abducted, forcefully converted, and married each year in Pakistan.

Even the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has acknowledged that no authentic data on the problem is available after analyzing data given by various NGOs. Besides Islam, neither accepts forced conversions nor those who are forcefully converted to Islam. Since Islam is based on acceptance by heart and not external rituals.

There's no denying that isolated cases of forced conversions involving criminal and exploitative elements have been identified. But, since every conversion is seen as coerced by special interest groups, the real victims, are denied the sympathy and justice they deserve in the media, culture, and government.

If one-way marriages and conversions were occurring only in Pakistan, one might reasonably suspect the position of religious clerics and the state's supposedly Islamic laws. Instead, around the globe, a non-Muslim woman often converts to marry a Muslim man, rather than the other way around. This demonstrates that these conversions have much to do with the essence of religion and Muslims' religious practices contrary to non-Muslim cultures, rather than policies and programs of any particular Muslim state.

To sum up, the ‘forced' conversion narrative has been created, promoted, and propagated without any justifiable basis, and it is working towards the Islamophobic political aim of maligning Pakistan's state and society, especially its religion and religious characters. Thus media and NGOs should better research deep into the issue rather than trusting in half-backed studies and claims.