Pakistani Catholic bishops have raised alarm over a court ruling that upheld the marriage of a minor Christian girl, warning that the decision risks emboldening forced conversions and child marriages among vulnerable religious minorities.
The March 25 verdict of the Federal Constitutional Court has triggered protests across Pakistan and drawn international concern, with Church leaders, rights groups, and lawmakers saying it reflects inconsistent enforcement of laws meant to protect minors and deepens fears among Christian and Hindu communities already facing abduction and coercion.
On April 5, Pakistani Christians celebrated Easter, a religious festival observed after 40 days of fasting. During special Sunday church services, prayers were offered for the protection of Christian girls from kidnapping, forced conversion, and forced marriage in response to the decision.
While addressing an Easter gathering in Lahore, Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said a committee would soon be formed to meet with the law minister and address Christians’ concerns.
Since the decision was announced, Christians across Pakistan have staged protests. Community leaders warn it could encourage further cases involving the abduction of Christian and Hindu girls, forced conversions, and coerced marriages.
Protest rallies and press conferences have been held across multiple cities, with civil society organizations also voicing concern.
On April 4, a day before Easter, more than 200 Christians, including men, women, and religious leaders, participated in a protest rally in Hyderabad. The demonstration was organized by the Catholic Church’s human rights body, the National Commission for Justice and Peace, and led by Bishop Simon Shukardeen.
The ruling, issued March 25 by a two-member bench of the Federal Constitutional Court headed by Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, declared the marriage between Maria Bibi, a Christian girl, and Sheheryar Ahmed, a Muslim man, to be valid.
The court rejected a petition filed by Bibi’s father, Shahbaz Masih, who claimed that his daughter, approximately 13 years old, had been unlawfully detained on July 29, 2025. Addressing the issue of age, the court acknowledged that while the law penalizes underage marriages, such unions are not automatically considered invalid.
Christian groups argue that this interpretation effectively validates child marriage, which they say contradicts Pakistani law, moral values, and international human rights standards.
The verdict has drawn both domestic criticism and international concern. UK parliamentarians have expressed alarm over the decision. While respecting Pakistan’s judicial sovereignty, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Pakistani Minorities in the United Kingdom noted that the case fits into a broader and well-documented pattern involving the abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of girls from religious minority communities, particularly Christians and Hindus.
The Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference said courts are not consistently applying laws that prohibit marriage under age 18, describing this selective enforcement as deeply troubling. Bishop Samson Shukardin, president of the conference, warned that cases involving abducted Christian girls are being adjudicated inconsistently with the law.
In a separate “Statement of Protest and Urgent Denial,” Catholic Archbishop Khalid Rehmat OFM Cap of Lahore strongly expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s decision.
On March 31, Christian legislators gathered in Lahore to discuss the implications of the verdict. Subsequently, Felbous Christopher, a Christian member of the Provincial Assembly and chairman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Minority Affairs in Punjab, introduced a bill proposing five years’ imprisonment for perpetrators of forced conversions. The bill will now be reviewed by the relevant standing committee before being tabled in the provincial assembly.
Human rights organizations have described the issue as highly sensitive and potentially risky, particularly given longstanding concerns about the forced or coerced conversion of young minority girls. These concerns are rooted in past cases involving minority women, especially minors, who were reportedly subjected to forced conversions to facilitate coerced marriages.
Minority Concern said the case contributes to a growing sense of insecurity among non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan and raises broader concerns about religious freedom. Many cases involving Christian girls go unreported, while in others, intimidation and pressure on families hinder legal proceedings.
Police are often accused of failing to pursue such cases effectively. “The implications of the verdict for the Christian community can be complex and far-reaching—legally, socially, and psychologically,” the group noted.
Another controversial aspect of the ruling is that Muslim men are permitted to marry women from Ahl-e-Kitab, or People of the Book, such as Christians. Critics argue that the court’s reasoning was influenced more by religious doctrine than by constitutional principles.
In a statement issued last week in London, UK parliamentarians called for stronger protections for religious minorities in Pakistan. The statement suggested that targeted training could improve judges’ understanding of consent, coercion, minority rights, and relevant constitutional and international obligations.
It also highlighted repeated warnings from international human rights organizations, U.N. experts, and religious freedom monitors that minority girls in Pakistan remain particularly vulnerable to coercion, early marriage, and conversion under questionable circumstances.
