Sindh Activist Faces Death Threats After Exposing Pakistan's Forced Conversion Network | Exclusive

Last Updated:January 20, 2026, 10:36 IST

Hindu activist Shiva Kachhi, founder of minority advocacy group Darawar Itehad, has reported receiving escalating death threats & fatwa-style calls for his killing since late 2025

Shiva Kachhi has intervened in dozens of cases over the years, helping secure the recovery of minor girls and reunite them with their families. (Screenshot)

A prominent minority rights activist in Pakistan’s Sindh province has come under serious threat from hardline religious groups after intervening in dozens of cases involving the alleged abduction and forced conversion of underage Hindu girls.

Hindu activist Shiva Kachhi, founder of the minority advocacy group Darawar Itehad, has reported receiving escalating death threats and fatwa-style calls for his killing since late 2025. The threats are allegedly linked to hardline factions associated with the Pir Sarhindi group and the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which Kachhi and other sources accuse of running an organised forced-conversion racket in parts of Sindh.

According to activists and intelligence-linked sources, underage Hindu girls—primarily from economically marginalised Bheel, Meghwar, and Kohli communities—are routinely abducted and taken to religious shrines, including the shrine of Pir Sarhindi, which is widely cited by rights groups as a hub for mass conversions. The girls are allegedly coerced into converting to Islam and subsequently married off to older men.

Rights organisations estimate that hundreds to more than 1,000 minority girls, mostly Hindus, face abduction and forced conversion annually in Sindh. Activists say many families are too poor or fearful to pursue legal action.

Kachhi has intervened in dozens of cases over the years, helping secure the recovery of minor girls and reunite them with their families. However, his work has drawn fierce backlash. He has been repeatedly accused by hardline clerics and their supporters of being “anti-Islam" and “anti-state"—labels that security analysts say are often used in Pakistan to incite mob violence and silence dissenting voices.

“Branding activists as enemies of religion is a deliberate escalation tactic," a senior intelligence-linked source said. “These networks operate as organised local ecosystems, combining clerical influence, tribal power and intimidation, often with complete impunity."

Sources allege that shrines are being used as informal conversion centres and that local authorities frequently fail to act, either due to pressure, ideological sympathy, or fear of extremist backlash. Activists also point to systemic bias within the justice system, claiming that courts often act swiftly when Muslim families are involved but delay or deny relief in cases involving Hindu victims.

Kachhi has publicly highlighted these disparities, further intensifying threats against him. Rights defenders warn that the continued failure to protect minority activists significantly raises the risk of targeted killings, citing past incidents where campaigners were attacked after being branded blasphemers or foreign agents.

Sindh has long been at the centre of Pakistan’s forced conversion debate, with national and international human rights organisations repeatedly calling on the government to strengthen protections for minorities, ensure judicial independence, and hold perpetrators accountable.

As threats against Kachhi mount, minority groups fear that silencing activists will further embolden networks accused of exploiting vulnerable girls—and deepen the climate of fear faced by religious minorities across the province.

News world Sindh Activist Faces Death Threats After Exposing Pakistan's Forced Conversion Network | Exclusive

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