7 detained over Pak forced conversion

Lahore: At least seven people, including a man who assisted in solemnising the wedding of two teenage Hindu girls after their alleged abduction and forced conversions, have been detained in Pakistan.

Lahore, March 25: At least seven people, including a man who assisted in solemnising the wedding of two teenage Hindu girls after their alleged abduction and forced conversions, have been detained in Pakistan, amid reports that the victims approached a court seeking protection.

The two girls, Raveena (13) and Reena (15), were allegedly kidnapped by a group of ‘influential’ men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the Nikah (marriage) of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage.

On March 20, girls' family lodged First Information Report against their alleged forced conversion to Islam. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the the a incident after the two separate videos started doing rounds on social media.

Dawn reported that several raids were conducted on Sunday night in Punjab's Rahim Yar Khan district - where it was believed the girls were taken from Ghotki - and arrested the Nikah Khwan who solemnised marriages, a leader of the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, and some relatives of the two men who had married the two girls. –PTI