Christian rights advocates have condemned a court decision to grant custody of 13-year-old Christian girl Amber Nadeem to Mohsin Liaqat, a Muslim man accused of abducting, forcibly converting and marrying her.
The photo shows chair of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan Akmal Bhatti speaking at the Faisalabad Press Club alongside other rights advocates (Voice of Justice Chairman Joseph Janssen, Haroon Michael and Sadaf Adnan) and members of Amber’s family at a press conference on 29 August.
The advocates and Amber’s mother Nadia Nadeem warned that the court ruling made on 25 July could expose Amber to further abuse and coercion and called on authorities to protect her. The ruling was made by a judge in Faisalabad, Punjab province, despite unresolved contradictions surrounding Amber’s age and the circumstances of her abduction and alleged conversion and marriage.
Abducted, rescued, placed in protective custody
Amber was abducted on 12 June while she was on her way to a market in Faisalabad. Her parents Nadia and Nadeem Masih spent three days trying to persuade police to register a First Information Report, which gave the suspect time to produce documents claiming that Amber had converted to Islam and married him.
Police eventually located and recovered Amber, placed her in protective custody in the Faisalabad police’s Gender-Based Violence Unit and arrested Mohsin Liaqat.
On 27 June a hearing was held regarding Amber’s custody and the legality of her alleged conversion and marriage. Liaqat’s family presented documents claiming that she had converted to Islam and married him, including a marriage certificate stating her age as 18. Malik Mehmood Hussain Awan, lawyer for Amber’s family, challenged the authenticity of the documents and presented church records confirming her age as 13. He later told media that the documents submitted by the suspect’s family appeared to be forged.
Liaqat’s lawyers argued that Amber had converted to Islam and therefore could not return to her Christian parents as that would constitute apostasy. Her family’s legal team strongly objected, arguing that such claims should not take precedence over Pakistani laws protecting minors and that the issue before the court was not religion but whether a 13-year-old child has legal capacity to consent to conversion, marriage or a transfer of custody.
The sessions court referred the matter to a special judicial magistrate to record Amber’s statement and conduct further questioning. Nadia testified before the magistrate that she gave birth to Amber in 2013, but when the magistrate asked Amber about her age she replied “old enough to get married”. When asked to state her year of birth she said 2008, but when asked how she could have been born in 2008 if her parents married in 2012, she reportedly stated that members of the Liaqat’s family had told her to claim that she was an adult born in 2008.
The defence produced conversion and marriage certificates stating that Amber was 18 and giving her date of birth as June 2008. Her family and legal representatives disputed the documents. The magistrate, citing discrepancies over her age, ordered a medical examination to establish her age and directed that she remain in protective custody pending the results.
Nadia and Nadeem (pictured) appealed for the return of their daughter and reportedly suffered such overwhelming distress that Nadia became ill after the hearing and had to be hospitalised.
Court grants bail and custody to Mohsin Liaqat
The results of the age examination had not been submitted to the magistrate when, on 25 July, Judge Rana Sohail granted custody of Amber to Liaqat and granted him bail. The judge accepted a newly submitted affidavit in which Amber stated that she had voluntarily converted to Islam, married of her own free will and had not been abducted. Amber left the courtroom with Liaqat’s relatives and lawyers while her parents watched in tears.
Government prosecutor Muhammad Anwar Naz, who strongly opposed the bail application, alleged that defence lawyers had warned Amber during the proceedings that she could face punishment for apostasy if she withdrew her conversion.
“The allegation has raised concerns that her statements may have been influenced by intimidation or coercion,” said Voice of Justice chairman Joseph Janssen.
Amber’s family has submitted a verified Family Registration Certificate that it says contradicts the disputed birth records, and Nadia says the family has also filed a civil suit seeking cancellation of the marriage certificate and a declaration that the marriage is illegal and void.
Rights advocates’ reaction
Joseph Janssen commented that the case illustrates the vulnerability of religious minority girls and called on law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to ensure that legal protections for children are applied without discrimination. “Amber’s case is not only about one child; it is a test of whether Pakistan’s child-protection laws, constitutional guarantees and commitments to religious freedom are applied equally to every child, regardless of her religion,” he said.
Akmal Bhatti told reporters that the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026 provides stronger legal protection for children and criminalises child marriage. He said a child’s alleged consent or statement should not, by itself, determine custody or protection when there are credible allegations of abduction, grooming, coercion, intimidation or manipulation. “The best interests, safety, dignity and long-term welfare of the child must remain paramount,” he said.
Rights advocate Sadaf Adnan called for comprehensive legislation criminalising forced religious conversion, particularly when minors are involved, and urged independent investigations into allegations of forced conversion, abduction, child marriage and sexual exploitation.
Haroon Michael appealed to the Punjab government, police and judiciary to intervene to protect Amber, investigate the alleged fabrication of documents and ensure that the case is decided according to law and the best interests of the child.
Joseph Janssen also referred to a 9 July resolution of the European Parliament that called on Pakistan to investigate allegations of forced conversion and child marriage involving minors, prosecute perpetrators and accomplices, ensure the safe recovery and protection of victims, strengthen judicial capacity and fully implement child marriage laws.
Read the Church in Chains Topic Abduction, forced conversion and marriage in Pakistan.
(Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, Voice for Justice)
Photo: Christian Daily International-Morning Star News