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The conversion to Islam of a
14- year-old girl from Kalasha community, Pakistan’s smallest religious
minority, has sparked clashes between majority Muslims and a few thousand
remaining members of the animist tribe. Nestled in the picturesque Chitral valley,
the Kalasha people, who follow an ancient animistic religion and number only
around 3,000, had claimed that the teenage girl was lured to convert to Islam.
However, a district official today said that
the girl has recorded her statement before the court that she converted out of
her own free will.
Yesterday, clashes were reported between
Muslims and the Kalasha people after the girl returned back to her family amid
reports that she was lured and bullied to convert to Islam. According to eye
witnesses, a mob of few hundred Muslim men attacked a house in the Kalash
tribe’s valley of Bumburate in the northern district of Chitral after the girl
returned; the police had to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd
Chitral Deputy Commissioner Usama Waraich
said that the situation was now under control and the matter has been resolved
as both local Muslims and Kalasha people have agreed to respect the girl’s
decision.
However, some elders of the Kalasha community
still claim that the girl was forcefully converted and demand an impartial
probe into the matter. Kalasha people mostly live in Bamburate, Birir and
Rambur regions of Chitral, a northern district in the troubled
Khyber-Pukhtunkwa province.
The closely-knit community with its
distinctive language, colourful dresses, songs and dances and elaborate
rituals, has long been an anomaly in the Muslim-majority Pakistan and are under
increased threat from militants who want to convert them to Islam.
