SANA urges to stop State Silence on Forced Religious Conversion of Sindhi Girls

The Advocacy and Rights Committee (ARC) of the Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) hosted a compelling and emotionally charged webinar on the escalating crisis of forced conversion of Sindhi Hindu girls, featuring leading voices including Advocate Ramesh Kumar Gupta (Chairman, Human Rights Council), Ashfaq Laghari, Akash Kewal Ram, Khalid Hashmani, Mushtaq Rajpar, and Dr. Sagheer Shaikh. Ashfaq Laghari detailed the recent abduction of a Hindu girl from Shahdadpur, where police failed to investigate and religious gaddis shielded the perpetrators; he cited data showing over 100 Sindhi Hindu girls forcibly converted in a year and questioned the silence around the lifelong trauma faced by victims and their families. Advocate Ramesh Kumar, who also represents forced conversion victims from Shahdadpur, lamented the absence of specific laws, noting that such cases are misclassified as abductions and resolved through fabricated narratives of marriage and conversion under pressure from religious establishments. Akash Kewal Ram emphasized that most victims are minors—some as young as 10—subjected to drugging, coercion, and lifelong exploitation, while perpetrators remain unpunished and often rewarded. Khalid Hashmani expressed deep sorrow over government inaction and called upon the Sindhi diaspora to raise its voice, while Mushtaq Rajpar urged the influential Sindhi Hindu community to actively support victims. Dr. Sagheer Shaikh stressed that this is not just a Hindu issue but a broader Sindhi national crisis demanding unity among nationalist forces. The session concluded with an interactive Q&A, and ARC Chair Zulfiqar Khawaja presented a formal resolution condemning forced conversions and demanding urgent legislation and implementation from the Sindh Government to end these gross human rights violations.