The Catholic Church in Pakistan has expressed scepticism over government attempts to review a court ruling which upheld the marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl to the Muslim man accused of abducting and converting her.
Maria Shahbaz, from Lahore, was reportedly abducted in July 2025 after leaving her home to visit a nearby shop. According to her family, she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to Shaheryar Ahmad, a 30-year-old Muslim man.
On 25 March, Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the marriage was valid under Sharia law and that Ahmad was the girl’s lawful guardian, rejecting a petition filed by her father, Shehbaz Masih.
The judgment prompted protests, press conferences and demonstrations by Christian groups across Pakistan, while the country’s Catholic bishops asked the authorities to intervene.
Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s federal minister for information and broadcasting, announced on Easter Sunday that the government had established a committee to examine the ruling and submit recommendations to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, questioned whether the initiative would lead to any meaningful action.
“These issues often subside by the time such committees make their reports public. The process is deliberately delayed so that people forget,” he told EWTN News.
“This is fundamentally a religious freedom issue. Consent is often coerced from minors. We await a genuine response from the government. Many Muslim clerics support us but have avoided joining public protests,” the bishop said.
Documents submitted by the family, including a certificate issued by Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority, stated that Maria was 13 at the time of the marriage, below the legal minimum age of 18 in Punjab province.
According to the Centre for Social Justice, at least 515 cases involving the abduction and forced conversion of minority girls and women were reported between 2021 and 2025. Hindu girls accounted for 69 per cent of the cases, while Christians represented 31 per cent. Most victims were under the age of 18.
Anthony Naveed, deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly, wrote to the Ministry of Law and Justice on 6 April calling for amendments to provincial laws dealing with child marriage.
He urged the federal government to address what he described as “serious legal gaps” exposed by the ruling and called for legislation in line with the law in Balochistan province, where child marriages are explicitly invalidated.
