Freedom for ‘Saba Shafiq,’ 12-Year-Old Christian Girl After 2 Months of Captivity
“Saba Shafiq,” a 12-year-old Christian girl, was freed after 2 months of captivity by a Muslim man.
Saba Shafiq, a 12-year-old Christian girl residing in Lahore in Punjab Province, Pakistan, was abducted on January 5, 2025, by her Muslim neighbor named “Muhammad Ali,” 35 years old, in front of her home. After abducting Saba, he forced her to convert to Islam and marry him.
Saba was initially taken by Muhammad Ali to the city of “Sialkot” in Punjab, where he obtained forged documents of her religious conversion and a fraudulent marriage certificate for her, and then transferred her to the city of “Benazirabad.” On Wednesday, March 5, Lahore police, with the assistance of “Sindh” police, raided a house in a village in the same city, found Saba there, and arrested Muhammad Ali. Police transferred Saba to Lahore two days later.
Saba is a Catholic Christian. In her statement about her abduction by Muhammad Ali, she said: “Ali forced me to record a video and say that I have converted to Islam and married him of my own will. I was also forced to say that I am 18 years old and my parents should not take any action against us.”
According to reports from the “Pakistan Center for Social Justice,” documented cases of abductions and forced religious conversions in 2023 reached 136 people, which is the highest annual figure to date. Out of this number, 26 Christian girls in Punjab Province and 110 Hindu girls in Sindh Province have been reported. Additionally, according to statements from the Pakistan Center for Social Justice, most of these abductions have occurred in Sindh Province, and 77 percent of women abducted in this province are under 18 years old.
The global Christian watchdog organization “Open Doors” ranked Pakistan as the most dangerous place for Christians to live in its 2025 report, placing it in eighth position.
Human rights defenders have also written about the abduction of Christian girls in Pakistan: “These girls are as young as 10 years old and are forcibly converted to Islam and, under the guise of Islamic marriage, are subjected to assault. They are then pressured to make false statements in favor of their abductors. Judges have consistently ignored documented evidence regarding the age of these children and hand them over to the abductors as lawful wives.”
The news of Saba’s release comes at a time when many of these young girls are being abducted by extremist Islamists and subjected to assault, yet there is no reporting of these abductions, assaults, and forced marriages, which remain hidden.
