Pakistan's Religious Minorities Face Forced Conversions, Mob Violence, and Temple Demolitions

On December 26, 2025, a 15-year-old Hindu girl, Premi Bhil was abducted from Sindh province, forcibly converted to Islam, renamed Kulsoom Sheikh, and married to a man over 30 years old who was already married. On December 6, 2025, a Hindu woman and her minor daughter were kidnapped by armed men from Karachi's Sher Shah area, according to a report in Sri Lanka Guardian.

Similarly, on December 5, 2025, a Pastor, Kamran Salamat, was shot dead by armed men in Punjab's Gujranwala. This was the second targetted attack on Kamran Salamat, who was previously shot in September last year, and faced injuries in the leg.

On October 10, 2025, an Ahmadi place of worship, Bait-ul-Mehdi, was targetted during Friday prayers in Punjab province's Chinab Nagar, which injured at least six worshippers. As many as 80 Christian families were attacked by a mob in Punjab's Sahiwal on August 8, 2025. Subsequently, many victims were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and faced Police brutality.

A report in Sri Lanka Guardian stated, "According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom's Annual Report, 2025, out of Pakistan's estimated population of 252 million, 96.5 per cent are Muslim (85-90 per cent Sunni and 10-15 per cent Shia) and just 3.5 per cent identify with other religious communities, including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs."

"Religious minorities in Pakistan face systemic discrimination and suffer harassment, entrapment in fabricated blasphemy allegations, physical assault, lynching, mob violence, targeted killings, land grabbing, forced conversions, arbitrary detention, and destruction of property, including their places of worship and cemeteries," it added.

At least 421 cases of abduction and forced conversion of minority girls and women were reported in Pakistan between January 2021-December 2024, according to 'Human Rights Observer 2025', released by UK's Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in April last year. The victims included 282 Hindu girls, 137 Christian girls and two Sikh girls.

Dozens of incidents of mob violence linked to blasphemy have been reported in Pakistan over the past 10 years, often leading to lynchings of the accused, including 2021 lynching of Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, a Christian Sri Lankan citizen working in Sialkot, the 2023 lynching of Muhammad Waris at a Police Station in Nankana. The absence of effective rule of law and impunity for those involved in lynchings of the accused contribute to culture, where these actions are considered normal.

"Places of worship of the minorities suffer destruction and severe administrative neglect. On December, 2025, a report presented before the Parliamentary Committee on the Minority Caucus revealed that, out of 1,285 Hindu temples and 532 Sikh gurudwaras, only 37 were functional, showing a dismally low number of active places of worship belonging to minorities. Numerous temples and gurudwaras have been converted into schools, shops, restaurants, government offices, or private residences," the report in Sri Lanka Guardian stated.

"For instance, as reported on April 12, 2024, a historic Hindu temple, at the Landi Kotal Bazaar in the Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province was demolished to make way for a commercial complex. Places of religious worship have been targeted and vandalised by mobs. On January 3, 2020, a violent mob pelted stones at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib (the birthplace of Guru Nanak and one of the holiest sites for Sikhs) and shouted that they would destroy the Gurudwara and change its name to Ghulam-e-Mustafa," it added.

- IANS