UBAURO:There is no clue yet to two Hindu sisters Raveena and Reena, who went missing from Deharki on the Holi Day on 20 March 2019, embraced Islam and them made free will marriages in Khanpur.
The heirs said that their girls had been kidnapped. The girls’ brother Shaman Lal also lodged the kidnapping case against six accused. The fleeing girls have embraced Islam under the patronage of Mian Javed in Bhar Chondi Sharif town. After embracing Islam, Raveena has been named as Asia and Reena as Shazia. The girls also made an appeal on social media that they should be protected from police. They said that they had come here on their own will and no one had pressed them in this regard.
On March 22, the girls reached Khanpur town of Rahimyar Khan district and admitted to accepting Islam before lawyers of Bar Room Khanpur. Later, under the patronage of Sunny Tehreek leader Jawad Hassan Gul, Raveena was married to Safdar and Reena to Barkat Malik at a local marriage hall. Their Nikah was solemnized by Qari Bashir Ahmed Qadri. Sweets were also distributed among the participants and the girls as a traditional ceremony.
Later, talking to media, both girls recited Kalma and said they had made free will marriage and no one had pressed them. However, after this ceremony, both couples went underground to save them from the arrests and any other dangers as Hindu community had blamed forced marriages and forced conversion to Islam by these girls. India has also issued statement about the forced conversion of Hindu girls after which Pakistan government along with Rahimyar Khan and Ghotki districts have stepped up efforts to arrest the couples.
The police have also arrested eight people and their inmates for their role as witnesses and participants in the joint marriage ceremony held in Khanpur. The families of Safdar and Barkat had also fled homes due to police action. There are fresh reports that the couples had filed protection appeals in Bahawalpur and Islamad courts.
Police said they had started search for the recovery of girls. The heirs and relatives continued to hold protest demonstrations for recovery of their girls. Karachi’s Central Police Office (CPO) informed on Thursday that SSP Ghotki in a report told IGP Sindh that the two girls of Hindu community who left their house stated in a video recorded by police that neither any one had abducted them nor held them hostage as they had left their home on their own will and had embraced Islam without any pressure.