Eleven members of the U.S. Congress have called on Pakistan’s government to protect an 18-year-old Christian woman whose family says she was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam.
In an Aug. 20 letter to Pakistan’s Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, the lawmakers raised concerns about the legal process surrounding the disappearance of Neha Faqir and her later court appearance after she was found in Lahore, according to Christian Solidarity International, which is assisting the family.
Faqir disappeared on March 24 after leaving her family’s home in Kot Radha Kishan in Punjab’s Kasur District to attend a course at a nearby sewing center, CSI reported. She is the third of four children in a Christian family whose parents work at a brick kiln.
An attorney helping the family later located Faqir at an Islamic seminary in Lahore, where relatives learned that she had been converted to Islam only days after she vanished, according to CSI. Her family disputes the legitimacy of the conversion and says she had never indicated that she wanted to leave Christianity.
The family later asked the court to return her home, but the Lahore High Court dismissed the petition on June 9, CSI said. Faqir reportedly appeared before the court accompanied by Islamic clerics, while her relatives were not permitted to speak with her.
The congressional letter said the circumstances “have raised serious questions about the cause of her disappearance and whether she was able to communicate her wishes independently.”
“We are particularly concerned by reports that her family was not permitted to speak with her before or during those proceedings,” the lawmakers wrote, according to CSI.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., was joined by 10 other lawmakers in signing the letter: Reps. James P. McGovern, D-Mass.; French Hill, R-Ark.; Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; Andy Harris, R-Md.; Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla.; Riley Moore, R-W.Va.; Randy Weber, R-Texas; Michael Cloud, R-Texas; Brad Sherman, D-Calif.; and Blake Moore, R-Utah.
The lawmakers asked Tarar to ensure Faqir’s safety and well-being, give her confidential access to independent legal counsel and allow her to communicate privately with her family. They also urged that any future court proceedings be conducted in a setting where she can state her wishes “freely and without intimidation or undue influence.”
The case comes amid broader concern over reports of forced conversion and child marriage involving religious minorities in Pakistan. A report titled “Stolen Girls,” presented by Jubilee Campaign at the European Parliament on July 14, documented 210 alleged cases of abduction, forced religious conversion, child marriage and sexual violence against Christian and other minority girls between 2019 and 2025.
According to the report, 186 of the 210 cases, or 88.6%, occurred in Punjab Province, while 22 cases, or 10.5%, were recorded in Sindh Province and two cases, or 1%, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. More than 83% of the victims were under the age of 18.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.
