A Christian girl who was abducted from Lahore, Pakistan, on 5 January has been rescued and reunited with her family.
Saba Shafique left her home in Walton Model Colony, Lahore to buy milk at 7am that morning and was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to her abductor.
The abductor was identified as Muhammad Ali, also from Walton Model Colony and known to Saba’s family.
Saba (right, pictured with her aunt) was reunited with her family after being rescued [Image credit: Humanitarian Action for Rights and Development Society]
The family subsequently received an “Islam acceptance certificate” to confirm her allegedly voluntary conversion, as well as a marriage certificate that falsely claimed Saba to be more than 18 years old and therefore of an age to be legally married.
Ali, who is already married, kidnapped Saba and took her to Nawabshah in Sindh, more than 580 miles to the south-west.
Legal representatives of the family accompanied police officers on the 36-hour journey to rescue Saba from the abductor’s custody. They were able to locate her, locked in a small room in a remote area away from the city of Nawabshah. Police arrested her abductor.
In a statement Saba disclosed that she had been subject to daily physical assaults by her “husband” and denied the right to contact her parents. She described her two-month ordeal as “living like a slave, completely helpless”.
Legal proceedings are being pursued against her abductor.
Praise God for this answer to prayer with the successful rescue of Saba. Pray for justice to be served in the ongoing legal action. Ask that Saba will know God’s comfort as she recovers from her traumatic experience. Pray for the Lord’s protection of Saba, her parents and three siblings from any anti-Christian hostility within their community.
