Peshawar: Concern is mounting among Hindu families in Pakistan’s Sindh province after another 14-year-old Hindu girl reportedly went missing from the same region where two minor Hindu sisters were allegedly abducted, forcibly converted and married.

The girl has reportedly been missing since Wednesday, with her parents making an urgent appeal to the authorities on Saturday to intervene and ensure their daughter’s safe return. The latest case has intensified fears among Hindu families already alarmed by the alleged abduction and forced conversion of two sisters, aged 14 and 16, on 29 August.

The two sisters were allegedly abducted from Ibrahim Colony in Tando Allahyar, around 200 kilometres north-east of Karachi. Police subsequently traced them and produced them before the Tando Allahyar Sessions Court. However, they were not returned to their parents and were instead sent to a women’s shelter while legal proceedings remained pending.

The case took an emotional turn in court on 9 September when the two girls pleaded to be allowed to return home. According to their account before the court, two Muslim men had allegedly abducted them, forcibly converted them and married them.

The latest disappearance has once again brought the spotlight on longstanding concerns surrounding the alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage of minor Hindu girls in rural parts of Sindh. The cases have also fuelled anxiety among minority Hindu communities over the safety and protection of their children.

Human rights lawyer Zia Awan said on Saturday that girls belonging to poor and marginalised Hindu families were particularly vulnerable.

The succession of cases has renewed calls for stronger protection of minority communities and for authorities to act swiftly whenever allegations involving the disappearance or coercion of underage girls emerge.