Survivor, Victim of Abduction, Rape, Forced Conversion to Islam and Marriage to A 55-Year-Old Muslim Man, Reaches Out to LEAD for Justice and Safety

Head of the advocacy group helping her has been the target of robbers and assassins.

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

KASUR, PAKISTAN (ANS – March 12, 2016 -- A Pakistani Christian mother-of-three, who is the alleged victim of abduction, rape, forced conversion to Islam and marriage against her will to a 55-year-old Muslim man, has been rescued from the clutches of her “abductor and rapist” and has reached out to the Pakistani Christian legal advocacy group, LEAD, “for justice and safety.”

ANS has been told that the woman, Fouzia Sadiqe, was kidnapped last June from a field in Burj Mahalam village, Punjab province, by a Muslim landlord who allegedly forcibly converted her to Islam and then forcibly married to allegedly avoid abduction and rape charges.

The Muslim man is claimed to have “tricked” Fouzia’s father into consenting to have his family work as bonded laborers on his land with no pay and only the provision of a run-down housing accommodation.

“I was raped a number of times by this man before my forced conversion and marriage to him, and he has extended death threats to my family on my disclosure of what has happened to me,” says Fouzia.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Christian woman further stated that she has become unable to have children after the man forced her to be sterilized.

“I have strong faith in Jesus and I hope He can save me permanently from this man,” she said.

On hearing of her terrible plight, two local clergy -- Rev. Saleem Masih and Rev. Karamat Masih, along with local political activists -- have now met with Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a Christian human rights defender and head of LEAD (Legal Evangelical Association Development) and requested his assistance for this poor victim.

LEAD has taken on many of this type of cases and stated that in Pakistan, “in most cases, the victim girl may be subjected to sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other domestic abuse or discarded from home after the passage of time.”

A spokesperson said, “LEAD requests that all Christian groups and organizations take this woman’s situation seriously and stand with us in defense of Christian victim women for her assistance and safety.

LEAD is an organization which provides free legal assistance and advocacy to victims of religious discrimination and sexual and domestic violence who cannot afford to bear heavy legal cost of counsel, and then fights on their behalf.

Extremely dangerous work

Doing this kind of work in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, can be very dangerous, as Sardar MushtaqGill has discovered over recent times.

Back in November 2013, Gill confirmed that he had endured “yet another perceptible assassination attempt” by a militant group. “I am being targeted by extremists who want me to end my legal support to victims in blasphemy cases,” he said at the time. He told an international news agency that gunshots were heard on November 2 on the street outside his home.

“I was not at home at the time as my wife urged me in a mobile phone text message to stay away following previous threats,” he explained. Gill claimed that his brother “stumbled on bullet shells subsequent to the attack.”

However, this wasn’t the first terrorizing incident that he has faced. Advocate Gill had previously made headlines after he was held at gunpoint in June, 2013, by three armed men who threatened him of “dire consequences,” apparently because of his advocacy work.

A media report said that “almost a month later, some fighters of a militant group stormed at his home” in “an evident attempt to kill him.”

Then, on February 11th of this year, his home in Kasur, was broken into and he was robbed of various items. According to details supplied to ANS, the robbers broke into Gill’s house at midnight and stole his desktop computer, scanner, printer, an iron, LCD TV, digital camera, clothes, important files and documents, and also damaged his CCTV system.

Around that same time, he and other members of LEAD were threatened by a group of unidentified persons for working on the issue of forced conversion of Christian girls to Islam.

The well-known advocate also stated that this was the second incident of break-in and theft within three months with the first incident being in November last year. That occurred when Gill’s wife was admitted in Zandagi Maternity Home and Family Clinic Township, Lahore, and none of the family members were present at home.

Please pray for the safety of Sardar Mushtaq Gill, who is a law graduate from Lahore Punjab University, Pakistan. He is married and has three children. He runs the LEAD organization and regularly speaks out what he considers to be the injustice done to non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan.

For more information, please e-mail leadpakistan2009@gmail.com .

Photo captions: 1) Fouzia Sadiqe holds up details her allegations. 2) Fouzia Sadiqe with members of the LEAD team in their office. 2) Sardar Mushtaq Gill addresses the Pakistan media. 4) Dan Wooding.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is also the author of some 45 books, the latest of which isMary, My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary (http://marythebook.com), which Dan says could make a great Easter gift for a friend.

** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net).