Christians in Pakistan are protesting a controversial court ruling that upheld the marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl to a 30-year-old Muslim man, a case widely known as "Maria's case." The girl's family says she was abducted and forcibly converted.
In response, OSV News learned, the federal government has quietly formed a 37-member national committee -- including Catholic and Protestant bishops -- to review the case and propose safeguards against forced conversions and marriages.
Officials said committee members have been notified, but a formal announcement "will be issued later," Akmal Bhatti, a Catholic lawyer and one of the committee members, told OSV News.
On March 25, the Federal Constitutional Court validated the Islamic marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Shahbaz, from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, to a 30-year-old Muslim man. Maria's father had filed a petition in court stating that his daughter was abducted in July 2025 and forcibly converted to Islam.
The ruling sparked backlash, with human rights organizations, Church leaders and politicians warning it could set a dangerous precedent.
Alongside Christian political and human rights groups, Catholic bishops organized protest gatherings to voice their concerns over the verdict. On April 10, during a protest rally in southern Punjab, Bishop Yousaf Sohan of Multan condemned the forced conversion and marriage of minor girls from minority communities and called for "justice for Maria."
Earlier, in a pastoral letter dated April 3, Archbishop Khalid Rehmat of Lahore expressed anguish over the decision, calling it "profoundly disturbing" and "unacceptable." As head of the country's largest Catholic diocese, he said the court ruling "represents not only a grave failure of justice in Maria's case but also sends a dangerous message that undermines the rule of law and weakens protections for vulnerable minority girls across the country."
Seeking to reassure the Christian community during an Easter gathering in Lahore, Attaullah Tarar, the federal minister for information and broadcasting, promised that the government would address the issue.
Safraz Clement, a Catholic political leader, said that the kidnapping, forced conversion and forced marriage of Christian girls -- many of them minors -- remain major concerns for non-Muslim citizens. Religious minorities, including Christians, along with human rights organizations, have consistently raised their voices against these abuses affecting a highly marginalized community.
Speaking to OSV News, he said, "Nearly 1,000 non-Muslim women and girls, many of them minors, fall victim each year to forced conversions and marriages in Pakistan."
According to the Center for Social Justice, a Christian human rights organization based in Lahore, 83 cases of abduction and forced conversion involving Christian girls -- including minors -- were reported in Punjab province alone in 2024, with many more likely unreported.
In a related development, on April 13, the Punjab Assembly's Standing Committee on Local Government and Community Development approved a bill setting the minimum marriage age at 18 for both genders under the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026. Some conservative Islamic members opposed the measure, arguing it contradicts social and religious Islamic realities.
Father Khalid Rashid Asi, diocesan director of the National Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Faisalabad, welcomed the development regarding efforts to curb forced marriages of Christian girls. Speaking to OSV News, he emphasized that Church leaders, theologians and other stakeholders should be consulted on such matters.
Currently, Sindh, Balochistan, and the Islamabad Capital Territory have set the minimum marriage age at 18 for girls, while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province the minimum age remains 16.
