A Muslim couple in Pakistan’s Punjab province forcibly converted a 13-year-old Christian girl to Islam so that she could work as a cook in their kitchen and touch utensils and food items. Now they are refusing to allow her to return home to her parents unless they pay a ransom, according to a report.
The Muslim man, identified only as a medical doctor named Altaf, recently told the parents of Neha, the Christian teenager, that she had embraced Islam and he and his wife were keeping her as their servant, the U.K.-based nonprofit Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement said in a statement Thursday about the abduction.
Neha’s father, Munawar Masih, and his wife, Mehtan Bibi, who live in Muzaffargarh district, are economically poor and had hoped that their daughter would earn a little money by working in Altaf’s house.
The young Christian teen has seven siblings and their parents earn only about $50 a month.
Altaf was introduced to Masih as someone who was looking to employ two girls to work in his house. Initially, Masih sent Neha and her sister, Sneha, to work in Altaf’s house, and the two worked there for four years despite being treated as slaves, CLAAS said.
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