Sadaf is 13 and has been kidnapped, forcibly converted and married to a Muslim. Yet, her family’s cries for justice are falling on deaf ears.
It was the morning of February 6, when Sadaf was alone in her house in Bahawalpur, that a group of men reportedly abducted her, forced her to become a Muslim and marry a local man. Her age was falsified on the marriage certificate as ’18’. She had been under pressure previously to start a relationship with the man – but had refused.
Please pray that God will be with Sadaf and her family – and reunite them soon.
Sadaf is from a poor Christian family and local police have so far failed to act on their repeated requests for help. The men suspected of Sadaf’s abduction are influential and have threatened her family not to take action.
Yet, her family have made a video appealing to the authorities for help.
The abduction and forced conversion of young Christian girls is a growing trend in Pakistan, according to Release contacts – a trend fuelled by police inaction.
(Sources: Release contacts, Pakistan Christian Post)
UPDATES:
Attacks on Christian communities by militant Fulani herdsmen in northern
Nigeria continued last week. At least 32 people were killed in the early morning raid on villages in and around Maro in Kaduna state on Tuesday. (Morning Star News)
Please pray for our
Chinese sister Xu Miaozhuang who has been evicted from her home, along with her four children. Her husband, Su Bingsen, an elder of
Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan province, remains in detention, along with nine other church members; more than 150 were arrested in early December. Xu’s eviction follows a meeting that she and three others held with German consular officials: the four were later interrogated by Chengdu officials, one of whom threatened to kill them. On February 24, 44 more members of the church, including 11 children, were arrested. (Source: China Aid)
Continue to pray for our
Pakistani sister Asia Bibi and her family. There has been no further news on Asia’s whereabouts since reports that she and her husband Ashiq were being held in protective custody in Karachi. Asia has been free to leave Pakistan since the Supreme Court upheld her acquittal of ‘blasphemy’ charges last month. Her daughters are reported to be in Canada. (Source: Premier)
With updates from Nigeria and China
