Note: This article contains descriptions of sexual violence and may be distressing to some readers.
Christian girls and women in Pakistan remain frequent targets of violence and coercion, according to a new report by Franciscan Father Lazar Aslam sent to Aid the Church in Need (ACN).
Documenting recent incidents of rape, forced conversion, and underage marriage, the report portrays a justice system that offers little recourse for victims from the country’s small Christian minority, ACN reported.
One case detailed in the report involves 17-year-old Samiya, who was found dead in a residential building in Lahore Feb. 14. Initially declared a suicide by the property owners, a medical examination confirmed that she had been gang-raped and murdered. Despite a formal police complaint, no suspects have been arrested more than three months later.
This tragedy is not isolated. Fr. Aslam’s report also includes the story of Shifa, abducted at age 14 by a neighbor in November 2023. Her family was misled, having been told someone else took her. Shifa was forcibly converted to Islam and married to a 48-year-old man who later divorced her and returned her to her kidnapper.
In January 2025, 12-year-old Saba was similarly kidnapped and forced into a marriage with a Muslim man who already had two wives.
One of the few successes involved 13-year-old Yarusha, coerced into signing marriage documents with a 35-year-old man. Though police refused to help, her family sought support from Fr. Aslam’s legal team. A court eventually sided with the girl’s parents, but the perpetrator faced no real consequences.
CatholicVote covered a similar case in March, when a Pakistani court annulled the forced marriage of Shahida Bibi, a 13-year-old Christian girl who had been abducted and married to a much older man. The court’s ruling marked a rare legal victory, but like Yarusha’s case, it underscored the lack of consistent accountability for perpetrators.
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Another account describes Asma, a 20-year-old who was raped by four men May 3, after being lured into a car by an acquaintance. The attackers filmed the abuse and now threaten to release the footage.
“Asma and her family are now facing ongoing threats and intimidation,” Fr. Aslam wrote in his report to ACN. “They live in constant fear due to the existence of the assault videos and the danger of further retaliation. Despite their repeated appeals, local law enforcement has provided minimal cooperation, and there has been no visible progress in the investigation.”
The violence sometimes escalates into horrific public brutality. On March 25, armed men attacked a Christian couple traveling together. After identifying them as Christians, the assailants beat the husband and raped his wife, Shumaila.
“We demand justice for the victim’s family and call upon the state to provide safety and security to the family, who are poor and [a] minority, while the culprits are powerful and have already issued threats,” Fr. Aslam wrote.
ACN Executive President Regina Lynch condemned the abuses and urged action.
“Christians make up only 1.3 percent of the population of Pakistan and are often among the poorest and most neglected citizens,” she said.
She later added, “[W]e remain committed to speaking up on this issue, which continues to plague the Christian community in Pakistan, and in other countries, and we ask that the political authorities do their utmost to protect them.”
Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List ranks Pakistan as the eighth-most dangerous country in the world for Christians, citing unchecked religious violence and a legal system that enables persecution rather than preventing it.
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