Jameel Masih, forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan in February 2026, in Islamic attire in TikTok video. (Screenshot Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Muslim landowner in Pakistan forcibly converted to Islam a 14-year-old Christian employee and is holding him in illegal custody, sources said.

Sharif Masih, a daily wage laborer and member of the New Apostolic Church in Pancho Baig Kotla village, Sheikhupura District in Punjab Province, said poverty compelled him to send his son, Jameel Masih, to work at the cattle shed of local landlord Muhammad Boota Bajwa about five years ago.

Instead of a monthly wage, Bajwa agreed to provide the family with five maunds of wheat (around 200 kilograms) annually, valued at approximately 16,000 Pakistani rupees ($58), Masih said. The arrangement allowed the family to visit Jameel once a month and occasionally bring him home overnight.

On Feb. 22 Masih and his wife, Nazia, went to Bajwa’s residence to see their son but were denied entry, he said.

“Bajwa told us that Jameel did not want to meet us,” Masih said. “When we raised our voices, some local Muslim elders intervened and forced him to hand Jameel over to us.”

Shortly after the family returned home with Jameel, Bajwa arrived with two armed men.

“They attacked me and my wife and forcibly snatched Jameel from us,” Masih said. “Our pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.”

Since then, the family has been unable to see their son and has faced threats when attempting to inquire about him, he said.

Masih added that the family recently came across a TikTok video in which Jameel appeared wearing an Islamic cap with an Muslim hymn playing in the background. Local residents informed them that Jameel had converted to Islam, he said.

With assistance from Christian advocacy group HARDS Pakistan, Masih has submitted a written complaint to the Farooqabad Saddar Police Station seeking his son’s recovery and the arrest of those allegedly involved.

Sohail Habil, chief executive of HARDS Pakistan, said that if police failed to register an FIR, the organization will file a writ petition before the Lahore High Court seeking the child’s recovery.

“The Masih family has been subjected to extreme injustice,” Habil said. “We are committed to ensuring that Jameel is rescued from illegal confinement and that those responsible are prosecuted under the law.”

Rights activist Napolean Qayyum said the alleged forced conversion could be linked to bonded labor practices.

“In many cases, vulnerable minority children are converted and separated from their families to ensure permanent control over them,” he told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Pakistan still lacks a federal law specifically criminalizing forced religious conversions, particularly of minors.”

Qayyum urged police authorities to register charges under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code relating to kidnapping, wrongful confinement, assault and criminal intimidation, as well as under child labor and bonded labor statutes.

Allegations of forced conversions of Christian and Hindu minors have surfaced repeatedly in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab and Sindh provinces. Rights groups, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), have documented cases in which underage girls from minority communities were abducted, converted and married, often after questionable age determinations.

In 2021, Pakistan’s parliament declined to advance a bill that sought to criminalize forced conversions after opposition from religious parties and the Council of Islamic Ideology.

Pakistan’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and existing criminal laws prohibit kidnapping, forced marriage and bonded labor. The country enacted the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act in 1992, formally outlawing debt bondage. However, implementation has been widely criticized as weak, particularly in rural agricultural settings where impoverished families often depend on landlords for subsistence.

Christians, who make up roughly 1.37 percent of Pakistan’s population, according to the 2023 national census, are disproportionately represented among low-income laborers. Advocacy groups say economic vulnerability increases the risk of exploitation, including child labor and coercion.

Pakistan, where more than 96 percent of the population is Muslim, ranks eighth on the Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

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