ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife) -- There was uncertainty Monday, August 27, about the situation of at least two missing Christian children in Pakistan who human rights investigators say have been forced to marry and convert to Islam, the latest in a series of anti-Christian incidents across the country
A marriage certificate for 16-year-old Shamaila Tabassum indicates that the marriage took place 12 days before her disappearance, earlier this month, said Direct News, a Christian news agency investigating reports of persecution.
The news agency cited another certificate which puts the age of 11-year-old Zunaira Rasheed at 18. Police have been allegedly stalling efforts to recover the minors, prompting the girls' lawyer to bring a case against officers in the Punjab city of Faisalabad last week.
Tabassum allegedly disappeared after telling relatives she was on her way to the hospital with several Muslim neighbors to visit her father, whom she said had suffered a serious accident, Direct News said. The Christian girl's family apparently became worried about her absence after her father arrived home from work in perfect health.
CHRISTIAN LAWYERS
News of the disappearance came shortly after several Christian lawyers joined the legal branch of advocacy group All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), aimed at providing free legal assistance to minority people in the country amid growing concerns about kidnappings of Christians and attacks against churches.
In addition, Christians and Hindus in northern Pakistan have reportedly received dozens of letters threatening them with death if they do not convert to Islam.
The letters were also sent to seven churches and five Christian settlements in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, Catholic Church sources said.
PRIEST THREATENED
Peshawar Catholic priest Yousaf Amanat said in published remarks that he had received a letter by mail telling him to convert to Islam by Tuesday August 14. "I was away from the parish, and when I came on Monday evening the post was on my desk," Amanat said. "It was written that if we don't become Muslim we will be killed."
Christians in the region were earlier th
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