A young Christian woman identified only as Mishal was abducted in 2022 at the age of 18 in Lahore, capital of Punjab province. She was forcibly converted to Islam and married to her abductor and remained in captivity for three and a half years until she escaped last month with her baby daughter.
Now aged 21, Mishal says she endured physical torture, threats, humiliation and isolation. The redness in her left eye and the scar around it are visible reminders of the physical abuse she suffered, but she also experienced deep emotional trauma.
The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), an organisation that supports persecuted Christians in Pakistan, said in a press release: “The faint mark beneath her eye and the mark on her throat, where she says an attempt was made on her life, are reminders of physical violence. But the deeper wounds lie within: the trauma of betrayal, the fear of captivity, the humiliation of coercion, and the constant anxiety of living under threat. Her childhood was cut short, her dignity stripped away, and her freedom stolen… Those three and a half years did not just leave bruises on her body – they left lasting emotional scars: sleepless nights, sudden panic at loud noises, and the lingering fear that her persecutor may return.”
Mishal is the fourth of four daughters born into a poor Christian family, and never went to school. Poverty forced her to start work at a young age and she got a job at a beauty parlour owned by a Christian woman. When the business closed, CLAAS reports, “she found another job at a reputable salon where most employees were Muslim, and she earned a decent salary to help support her family”.
A female client befriended her and later introduced her to a man from Gujranwala, a city around 70 km north of Lahore, who harassed her by repeatedly calling, following her and waiting outside her workplace. One day he brought her to a house where three men including a Muslim cleric were waiting. She reported, “He took me to a room and forced me into marriage at gunpoint.”
Mishal is illiterate and was forced to place her thumbprint on documents she could not read. Afterwards was she informed that she had been converted to Islam and renamed Fatima, and that she was now her abductor’s wife and under his authority. She recalled, “When I asked why they changed my name, he started beating me.”
Mishal returned to her family home, but that night armed men arrived and began firing shots outside. Her father confronted the man who had forced her to marry him, but he took her away at gunpoint. Mishal said that for months in Lahore and later in Gujranwala she was locked up, beaten, insulted for her Christian faith, called degrading names and treated as a servant. “He locked me in a room and gave me food only when he wished,” she said. “Whether intoxicated or not, he beat me.”
The violence continued after Mishal gave birth to a baby girl, Ayat. CLAAS reports, “In one terrifying incident, while allegedly under the influence of drugs, [he] brutally assaulted her and threw their infant daughter against a wall. Miraculously, the child survived.”
Mishal said the situation got even worse last month. “My nose and mouth were bleeding badly,” she said. Neighbours heard her screaming and threw down a rope from a roof so she could escape by crossing the rooftops. They called the police, who rescued Mishal and her daughter and returned them to her family.
The family has had to move due to security concerns – Mishal lives in fear as her abductor reportedly continues to appear in her street, threatening to kill her family if she does not return to him.
The family filed a First Incident Report at Kot Ladha police station in Gujranwala district, and CLAAS’s legal team has filed a harassment petition in the Lahore High Court and is initiating divorce proceedings to secure permanent freedom and protection for Mishal.
(Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, Worthy News)