An attorney in Pakistan reports that a 14-year-old boy appears to have been forced by his employer to convert to Islam and is being kept from his family.
Brothers of Shamraiz Masih of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab Province reported he was abducted July 21 after he failed to return from an errand, attorney Tahir Naveed Chaudhry told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
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A member of a Presbyterian congregation, Masih started working at a motorcycle repair shop four months ago after his father died.
After filing the police report July 21 about the abduction, the brothers received word that Masih was seen with his employer at an Islamic seminary in the Company Bagh area. The brothers went to the seminary and asked for Masih, but were told he freely converted to Islam and did not want contact with his family, the news outlet reported.
Papers filed July 22 at a court in Lahore, Pakistan say Masih converted of his own will. However, Chaudhry said it appeared obvious that the employer forced Masih to convert to Islam and is holding him.
World Watch
Pakistan is No. 8 on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 places most difficult to be a Christian.
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