Rinkel Kumari, a 19-yeard old Hindu woman from Mirpur Mathelo in the Pakistani province of Sindh, has
appealed to the supreme court in Islamabad.
The drama of Rinkel Kumari, a student of Mirpur Mathelo, a small village in the
province of Sindh, began the evening of February 24: A handful of men seized her
and delivered her a few hours later into the hands of a wealthy Muslim scholar,
the man then called her parents, warning them that their daughter "wants to
convert to Islam."
Nand Lal, the girl's father, a teacher of an
elementary school, accused Naveed Shah, an influential Muslim, of kidnapping his
daughter. The man has the "political cover" provided by Mian Mittho, an elected
National Assembly Member, suspected of aiding and abetting. After identifying
the perpetrators of the kidnapping of his daughter, he was forced to leave the
area of origin to escape the threats of people affiliated with the local mafia.
The father found refuge and welcome in Gurdwara in Lahore, in Punjab province,
with the rest of his family.
As often happens in these cases, even the
judiciary is complicit: a local judge ordered that the girl should be given to
the Muslims, because her conversion is "the result of a spontaneous decision"
and also stated the marriage was above board. A claim that was repeated on
February 27, at the hearing before the court, after which the girl was "renamed"
Faryal Shah.
This claim of her "spontaneous" conversion from Hinduism to Islam Kumari vigorously denies. Addressing the supreme court, she said, "In Pakistan there is justice only for Muslims, justice is denied Hindus. Kill me
here, now, in court. But do not send me back to the Darul-Aman [Koranic school]
... kill me."
