June 08, 2019

Marginalised Christian girls suffer under Sino-Pak ties

located:	Pakistan, China
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Brought together by the 20th Century geopolitical scenario in the region, China and Pakistan have bolstered their pretty much one-sided alliance over the years with the latter having to make multiple serious compromises to save the marriage from collapse.

Firstly, Pakistan has been presenting itself as a champion of Muslim rights globally, but in a delicate compromise not to hurt its mighty and rich ally Beijing, the ruling quarters in Islamabad have been criminally looking away from the atrocities committed against Chinese Muslims in the Xinjiang region during all those years.

Now, what has made this one-sided geo-strategic alliance look very murky – and has also evolved into lucrative financial lending from China to Pakistan – is the exploitation of poor and marginalised Christian women and girls. Recently, there have been so many troubling reports about Chinese imposters luring mostly Christian girls from rural parts of Punjab province in Pakistan for a respectable married life in China, but only to be trafficked for prostitution.

The Human Rights Watch has already warned the government in Pakistan to be alarmed at these frighteningly similar patterns of the trafficking of “brides” to China from at least five other Asian countries.

Earlier this month, a Pakistani television station gained entry to what it said was a matchmaking centre in Lahore where six women and girls, two only 13-years-old, were held awaiting transit to China as brides. It reported that the families of these women and girls received payments of 400,000 Pakistani rupees (U.S. $2,800) and were promised 40,000 rupees a month ($280) in future payments, plus a Chinese visa for a male family member. 

Ground has been paved for this predatory market by China, pouring $60 billion into Pakistan’s infrastructure through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with more and more Chinese imposters exploiting this opportunity to enter Pakistan.

Some researchers suggest one driving force behind this is the gender imbalance caused by a preference for boys in China during the 'one-child policy' from 1979 to 2015. However, that cannot justify the criminal negligence in the part of Pakistan in terms of safeguarding the rights and security of its own people.